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Robert Sobel

April 13, 2024

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.

Robert Sobel
Sobel in a promotional photo for his publisher
Born(1931-02-19)February 19, 1931
New York City, U.S.
DiedJune 2, 1999(1999-06-02) (aged 68)
Long Beach, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Writer, editor, professor
Years active1956–1999
SpouseCarole Ritter
Children2
Academic background
Alma mater
Academic work
DisciplineBusiness history
InstitutionsHofstra University
Notable worksFor Want of a Nail (1973)

Biography edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

Fiction edit

  • Sobel, Robert (1973). For Want of a Nail ...; If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga. New York: Macmillan.

Non-fiction edit

  • 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 edit

  1. ^ a b Henriques, Diana B. (June 4, 1999). "Robert Sobel, 68, a Historian of Business, Dies". The New York Times. p. C18. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  • 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 edit

April 13, 2024
robert, sobel, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, . This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations December 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia See Wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions July 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message 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 Robert SobelSobel in a promotional photo for his publisherBorn 1931 02 19 February 19 1931New York City U S DiedJune 2 1999 1999 06 02 aged 68 Long Beach New York U S Occupation s Writer editor professorYears active1956 1999SpouseCarole RitterChildren2Academic backgroundAlma materCity College of New York BSS MA New York University PhD Academic workDisciplineBusiness historyInstitutionsHofstra UniversityNotable worksFor Want of a Nail 1973 Contents 1 Biography 2 Books 3 Wall Street 4 Selected bibliography 4 1 Fiction 4 2 Non fiction 5 References 6 External linksBiography editSobel 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 amp Finance Books editSobel 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 editSobel 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 editFiction edit Sobel Robert 1973 For Want of a Nail If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga New York Macmillan Non fiction edit 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 edit a b Henriques Diana B June 4 1999 Robert Sobel 68 a Historian of Business Dies The New York Times p C18 Retrieved May 29 2023 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 amp 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 editBooknotes interview with Sobel on Coolidge An America Enigma August 30 1998 Robert Sobel at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Works by or about Robert Sobel at Internet Archive Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Robert Sobel amp oldid 1215078814, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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