Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts

October 24, 1929, will always be remembered as Black Thursday on Wall Street. On that day panic swept through the New York Stock Exchange as hysterical speculators attempted to sell their stocks in a mad rush to get out of the market as quickly as possible. Best-selling journalists Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts recreated the panic of that day by conducting interviews and utilizing the memoirs, documents, and private papers from survivors of the great crash.

Three minutes after ten would remain forever in [W.E. "Hut" Hutton's] memory as the moment an excited shout swept through [the brokerage firm]. "She's trading big and brisk!"

The market had opened "like a bolt out of hell."

Kennecott Copper, which had slumped just before yesterday's close, leaped $11 on a 20,000-share transaction. Sinclair Oil jumped fifty cents on a...