American historian (1931–1999)
Robert Sobel
Sobel in a promotional photo for his publisher
Born (1931-02-19 ) February 19, 1931New York City, U.S.
Died June 2, 1999(1999-06-02) (aged 68) Occupation(s) Writer, editor, professor Years active 1956–1999 Spouse Carole Ritter Children 2
Alma mater Discipline
Business history Institutions
Hofstra University Notable works
For Want of a Nail (1973)
Robert Sobel (February 19, 1931 – June 2, 1999) was an American professor of history at
Hofstra University and a well-known and prolific writer of business histories.
Biography
Sobel was born in
the Bronx . He completed his B.S.S. (1951) and M.A. (1952) at
City College of New York , and after serving in the
U.S. Army , obtained a Ph.D. from
New York University in 1957. He started teaching at
Hofstra in 1956. Sobel eventually became Lawrence Stessin Distinguished Professor of
Business History at
Hofstra University .
Sobel and his wife, the former Carole Ritter, had two children.
[1] He died from brain cancer at his home in
Long Beach, New York , on June 2, 1999, at the age of 68.
[1] After his death, the university established the Robert Sobel Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Business History & Finance.
Books
Sobel's first business history, published in 1965, was The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market . It was the first history of the stock market written in over a generation. The commercial and critical success of The Big Board launched a prodigious writing career during which Sobel authored more than 30 books, several of them best sellers, many articles, book reviews, and scripts for television documentaries and mini-series. From 1972 to 1988, Sobel's weekly investment column, "Knowing the Street", was nationally syndicated through New York
Newsday . He was also regularly published in national periodicals, including
The New York Times and
The Wall Street Journal . At the time of his death, Sobel was also a contributing editor to
Barron's Magazine . He was a regular guest on financial and other news shows, such as
Wall Street Week and Crossfire .
Sobel was nearly as famous for his only work of fiction, the 1973 book,
For Want of a Nail . This book is an
alternate history in which
Burgoyne won the
Battle of Saratoga during the
American Revolutionary War . This work detailed the history of an alternate timeline, complete with footnotes. Sobel had authored or co-authored several actual textbooks. For Want of a Nail was republished in 1997 and won a special achievement
Sidewise Award for Alternate History that year.
Wall Street
Sobel's dominant passion was
Wall Street , a fascination that he held since his childhood. "It is as though you are walking through a historical theme park, with this engaging man at your side pointing out the sights," said
Andrew Tobias , the author and investment guide, in a review in
The New York Times of The Last Bull Market: Wall Street in the 1960s (W. W. Norton, 1978).
Most of Sobel's books were written for a general audience, but he never bristled when some scholarly writers dismissed him as a "popularizer," said his colleague and friend George David Smith, a professor of economic history at New York University. "Quite the contrary—he saw that as his mission in life."
Selected bibliography
Fiction
Non-fiction
Sobel, Robert (1960). The Origins of Interventionism: The United States and the Russo-Finnish War . New York: Bookman Associates.
Sobel, Robert (1965).
The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market . New York: Free Press.
Sobel, Robert (1967). The French Revolution . New York: Ardmore Press.
Sobel, Robert (1968).
The Great Bull Market: Wall Street in the 1920s . New York: Norton.
Sobel, Robert (1968). Panic on Wall Street: A History of America's Financial Disasters . New York: Macmillan.
Sobel, Robert (1969). The Automobile Makers . New York: Putnam.
Sobel, Robert (1970).
The Curbstone Brokers: The Origins of the American Stock Exchange . New York: Macmillan.
Sobel, Robert (1971). Conquest And Conscience: The 1840s . New York: Crowell.
ISBN
0-690-20939-8 .
Sobel, Robert (1971).
Biographical directory of the United States executive branch, 1774–1971 . Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Pub. Co.
ISBN
0-8371-5173-2 .
Sobel, Robert (1972).
The Age of Giant Corporations: A Microeconomic History of American Business, 1914–1970 . Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press .
ISBN
0-8371-6404-4 .
Sobel, Robert (1973). Machines and Morality: The 1850s . New York:
Crowell .
ISBN
0-690-00266-1 .
Sobel, Robert (1973). The Money Manias: The Eras of Great Speculation in America, 1770–1970 . New York: Weybright and Talley.
Sobel, Robert (1974).
The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition . New York: Weybright and Talley.
ISBN
0-679-40064-8 .
Sobel, Robert (1975). Herbert Hoover and the Onset of the Great Depression 1929–1930 . New York: Lippincott.
ISBN
0-397-47334-6 .
Sobel, Robert (1975).
N.Y.S.E.: a history of the New York Stock Exchange: 1935–1975 . New York: Weybright and Talley.
ISBN
0-679-40124-5 .
Sobel, Robert (1976).
The Manipulators: America in the Media Age . Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press.
ISBN
0-385-08526-5 .
Sobel, Robert (1976).
Inside Wall Street: Continuity and Change in the Financial District . New York: Norton.
ISBN
0-393-05643-0 .
Sobel, Robert (1977).
The Fallen Colossus . New York: Weybright and Talley.
ISBN
0-679-40138-5 .
Sobel, Robert (1978).
They Satisfy: The Cigarette in American Life . New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday.
ISBN
0-385-12956-4 .
Sobel, Robert (1980).
Last Bull Market: Wall Street in the 1960s . New York: Norton.
ISBN
0-393-01309-X .
Sobel, Robert (1980). The Worldly Economists . New York: Free Press.
ISBN
0-02-929780-X .
Sobel, Robert (1981). IBM: Colossus in Transition . New York: Times Books.
ISBN
0-8129-1000-1 .
Sobel, Robert (1982).
ITT: The Management of Opportunity . New York: Times Books.
ISBN
0-8129-1028-1 .
Sobel, Robert (1984).
Car Wars: The Untold Story . New York: Dutton.
ISBN
0-525-24289-9 .
Sobel, Robert (1984).
The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate Kings . New York:
Stein and Day .
ISBN
0-8128-2961-1 .
Sobel, Robert (1986).
The entrepreneurs: An American Adventure . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
ISBN
0-395-42020-2 .
Sobel, Robert (1986).
IBM vs. Japan: The Struggle for the Future . New York: Stein and Day.
ISBN
0-8128-3071-7 .
Sobel, Robert (1986).
RCA . New York: Stein and Day.
ISBN
0-8128-3084-9 .
Sobel, Robert (1986). Salomon Brothers, 1910–1985: Advancing to Leadership . New York: Salomon Brothers.
Sobel, Robert (1987).
The New Game on Wall Street . New York: Wiley.
ISBN
0-471-84527-2 .
Sobel, Robert (1987).
Quality of Earnings: the Investor's Guide to How Much Money a Company is Really Making . New York: Free Press.
ISBN
0-02-922630-9 .
Sobel, Robert (1988). Biographical Directory of the Council of Economic Advisers . New York: Greenwood Press.
ISBN
0-313-22554-0 .
Sobel, Robert (1989).
Trammell Crow, Master Builder: The Story of America's Largest Real Estate Empire . New York: Wiley.
ISBN
0-471-61326-6 .
Sobel, Robert (1989). Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States 1983/88 . Westport, Conn.: Meckler.
ISBN
0-930466-00-4 .
Sobel, Robert (1990).
Biographical directory of the United States executive branch, 1774–1989 . New York: Greenwood Press.
ISBN
0-313-26593-3 .
Sobel, Robert (1991). The Life and Times of Dillon Read . New York: Truman Talley Books/Dutton.
ISBN
0-525-24959-1 .
Sobel, Robert (1993).
Dangerous Dreamers: The Financial Innovators from Charles E. Merrill to Michael Milken . New York: Wiley.
ISBN
0-471-57734-0 .
Sobel, Robert (1998).
Coolidge: An American Enigma . Washington, D.C.: Regnery Pub.
ISBN
0-89526-410-2 .
Sobel, Robert (1999).
When Giants Stumble: Classic Business Blunders and How to Avoid Them . Paramus, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
ISBN
0-7352-0059-9 .
Sobel, Robert (2000).
The Pursuit of Wealth: The Incredible Story of Money Throughout the Ages of Wealth . New York: McGraw-Hill.
ISBN
0-585-18949-8 .
Sobel, Robert (2000).
AMEX: A History of the American Stock Exchange . Washington, D.C.: BeardBooks.
ISBN
1-893122-48-4 .
Sobel, Robert (2000) [1981]. Thomas Watson, Sr.: IBM and the Computer Revolution . Washington, DC: BeardBooks.
ISBN
1-893122-82-4 . *** A paperback reprint of IBM: Colossus in Transition .
Sobel, Robert (2000).
The Great Boom 1950–2000: How a Generation of Americans Created the World's Most Prosperous Society . New York: St.Martin's Press.
ISBN
0-312-20890-1 .
Sobel, Robert;
Roger Lowenstein ;
Louis Rukeyser (2006). Crashes, Booms, Panics and Government Regulation . Ashland, Or.: Blackstone Audiobooks.
ISBN
0-7861-6489-1 .
References
Hand, Judson, "If Washington Hadn't Been the Father of His Country,"
Sunday (New York Daily) News , February 18, 1973.
MacGregor, Martha, "The Week in Books,"
New York Post , March 31, 1973.
Sicilia, DB, "Remembering Robert Sobel (1931-1999)"
Enterprise & Society: The International Journal of Business History , Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 182–187, (March 2000).
Skow, John, "Parlor Games,"
Time , April 9, 1973.
External links
International National Academics Artists People Other