The Plunderers

by Edwin Lefèvre

"I led the conversation round to Wall Street and incidentally said I didn't know which was easier for a man, to be a fool or to make money in the stock-market. I... had always found folly extremely easy-but successful stock speculation infinitely easier." -from "The Panic of the Lion" This collection of four interrelated short stories relates the doings of the Plunder Recovery Syndicate, a group of men who take it upon themselves to relieve financial villains of their extravagant wealth. Satirical and provocative, these tales are as fresh and entertaining today, in chaotic economic times, as they surely were when first published in 1912. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Lefevre's The Golden Flood. American journalist EDWIN LEFEVRE (1871-1943) also authored the short fiction collected in Wall Street Stories (1901), the novel Sampson Rock of Wall Street (1906), and the based-on-fact Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923).

344 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2005

About the author

Edwin Lefèvre (1871–1943) was an American journalist, writer, and statesman most noted for his writings on Wall Street.

George Edwin Henry Lefèvre was born in Colón, Colombia (now Republic of Panama). His father had sent Edwin to the United States when he was a boy and he was educated at Lehigh University where he received training as a mining engineer. However, at the age of nineteen, he began his career as a journalist and eventually became a stockbroker, as well.

During the 1909–1913 presidency of William Howard Taft, Lefèvre served as ambassador to a number of countries including Italy, Spain, and France. Lefevre did work as a broker on Wall Street and was the financial writer for the New York Sun newspaper. He later returned to his home in Vermont where he resumed his literary work, providing short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and writing novels.