Markham (law, Univ. of North Carolina), who has an extensive background in financial regulation, makes a significant contribution with this first comprehensive financial history since Margaret Good Myers's classic A Financial History of the United States was published in 1970. Volume 1, 1492-1900, discusses the financial roots of America's European discovery and colonization, the financial exploitation that led to the American Revolution, the conflicts of interest that slowed the development of America's financial institutions, the Buttonwood agreement, the Civil War, the robber barons, the periodic panics that undermined expansion, and the investment bankers who began consolidating American industry around the turn of the century. Volume 2, 1900-1970, covers the creation of the Federal Reserve, World War I, the Roaring Twenties and stock market crash, the Great Depression, World War II, Bretton Woods, Vietnam, and the emergence of the institutional investor. Volume 3, 1970-2001, begins by describing the financial turmoil that undermined the system, the rise of derivatives, the stock market crash of 1987, the roaring Nineties and rise of the Internet, the consolidation of international finance, and the impact of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Each volume includes a list of illustrations, a selected bibliography, and name and subject indexes, with Volume 3 also providing cumulative indexes. This set is noteworthy because of its accessible reading style and easy-to-use format. Its one drawback is the lack of Internet references. Recommended for all academic, business, law, and larger public libraries.