Paul E. Erdman

1Being an American in the 1980s was not always easyas you remember. When the decade began, most of us were convinced that we had no place to go but up. After all, we had gotten by Vietnam and Richard Nixon and Iran and Jimmy Carter. What else could go wrong?Ha!Not that anything catastrophic had...

chapter Sonoma County, California December, 1984 I have decided to put on paper an account of what really happened in 1979—the year the world, as we knew it, fell apart. I'm not sure anybody really cares any more, at least the people out here in California. They don't have to worry about...

Chapter 1It was the first week of December and the weather in Georgetown was chilly. It was not, however, just the first blasts of winter air that were causing some of the more prominent residents of that élite community to shiver when they got out of bed that Tuesday morning. In this year of 1988...

CHAPTERSonoma County, California December, 1984I have decided to put on paper an account of what really happened in 1979the year the world, as we knew it, fell apart.I'm not sure anybody really cares any more, at least the people out here in California. They don't have to worry about starving or...

Foreword to the Charter editionOn Black Monday, October 19, 1987, panic struck Wall Street. The stock market plunged 23 percent, and over half a trillion dollars was lost in a space of six and a half hours. During the next 24 hours, similar crashes occurred in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Zurich, Frankfurt...

CHAPTERSonoma County, California December, 1984I have decided to put on paper an account of what really happened in 1979^the year the world, as we knew it, fell apart.I'm not sure anybody really cares any more, at least the people out here in California. They don't have to worry about starving or...