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Shortfall: Family Secrets, Financial Collapse, and a Hidden History of American Banking
The rollicking true story of a 1930s version of Bernie Madoff―and the building and loan crash he helped precipitate―in a wonderful work of narrative nonfiction by the Gustavus Myers book award winner
Shortfall opens with a surprise discovery in an attic―boxes filled with letters and documents hidden for more than seventy years―and launches into a fast-paced story that uncovers the dark secrets in Echols's family―an upside-down version of the building and loan story at the center of Frank Capra's 1946 movie, It's a Wonderful Life . In a narrative filled with colorful characters and profound insights into the American past, Shortfall is also the essential backstory to more recent financial crises, from the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s and 1990s to the subprime collapse of 2008. Shortfall chronicles the collapse of the building and loan industry during the Great Depression―a story told in microcosm through the firestorm that erupted in one hard-hit American city during the early 1930s. Over a six-month period in 1932, all four of the building and loan associations in Colorado Springs, Colorado, crashed in an awful domino-like fashion, leaving some of the town's citizens destitute. The largest of these associations was owned by author Alice Echols's grandfather, Walter Davis, who absconded with millions of dollars in a case that riveted the national media. This book tells the dramatic story of his rise and shocking fall.
Shortfall opens with a surprise discovery in an attic―boxes filled with letters and documents hidden for more than seventy years―and launches into a fast-paced story that uncovers the dark secrets in Echols's family―an upside-down version of the building and loan story at the center of Frank Capra's 1946 movie, It's a Wonderful Life . In a narrative filled with colorful characters and profound insights into the American past, Shortfall is also the essential backstory to more recent financial crises, from the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s and 1990s to the subprime collapse of 2008. Shortfall chronicles the collapse of the building and loan industry during the Great Depression―a story told in microcosm through the firestorm that erupted in one hard-hit American city during the early 1930s. Over a six-month period in 1932, all four of the building and loan associations in Colorado Springs, Colorado, crashed in an awful domino-like fashion, leaving some of the town's citizens destitute. The largest of these associations was owned by author Alice Echols's grandfather, Walter Davis, who absconded with millions of dollars in a case that riveted the national media. This book tells the dramatic story of his rise and shocking fall.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published October 3, 2017
11 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Alice Echols
16 books28 followersAlice Echols is a cultural critic and historian. A specialist of the 1960s, Echols is a professor at the University of Southern California.
Associate Professor of English, Gender Studies and History
Associate Professor of English, Gender Studies and History
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 24, 2018
I did not enjoy this book at all.
I found most of the writing dry and boring. The family story is woven ever so slightly in the history of the B&L - now S&L - story in Colorado Springs during the turn of the last century. It could have been interesting, but it wasn't presented in a very readable manner.
I enjoy historical non-fiction and fiction of all kinds, most of the books I read fall in these 2 categories. This book just did not capture my interest at all.
I found most of the writing dry and boring. The family story is woven ever so slightly in the history of the B&L - now S&L - story in Colorado Springs during the turn of the last century. It could have been interesting, but it wasn't presented in a very readable manner.
I enjoy historical non-fiction and fiction of all kinds, most of the books I read fall in these 2 categories. This book just did not capture my interest at all.
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February 12, 2018I didn't give the book a rating because I didn't finish it. This had more to do with my research needs than with the book itself.
Shortfall provides an interesting perspective on the early, very lightly regulated financial businesses in the country around the turn of the 19th to 20th Century, with a focus on home lending in Colorado and the Colorado Springs community. Colorado history tends to emphasize the role of mining in fueling Colorado's early growth. This book shows how much the economy relied on other extraction industries, such as lending, development and tourism/healthy air promises.
Shortfall provides an interesting perspective on the early, very lightly regulated financial businesses in the country around the turn of the 19th to 20th Century, with a focus on home lending in Colorado and the Colorado Springs community. Colorado history tends to emphasize the role of mining in fueling Colorado's early growth. This book shows how much the economy relied on other extraction industries, such as lending, development and tourism/healthy air promises.
November 28, 2017
A family story of the Bank and loan crisis during the Depression and a great-grandfather whose greed
capitalized on it. It is non-fiction based on actual letters and events.
capitalized on it. It is non-fiction based on actual letters and events.
September 13, 2020
Hard for me to figure how deeply Shortfall would speak to someone who wasn't born and raised in Colorado Springs. In many way, the city's bizarre right-wing culture occupies the primary dramatic role alongside Walter Davis, whose Business & Loan business defrauded an incredible percentage of C Springs residents in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Davis was the grandfather of writer Alice Echols, one of the very best historians of the 1960s (my intellectual home turf), so the book is part economic history, part regional history, part family memoir--locating and reassembling the bones of the skeleton in the closet. On a deeper level, Shortfall is a book about the machinations of American capitalism, the way different systems--media, legal, economic (especially anti-labor), philosophical (individualism)--reenforce one another that absolve self-righteous power brokers of responsibility for their actions.
January 18, 2021
This was a great book. I loved the way the author knit a personal family story with a broader study of economic and social events and trends. The writing is excellent and moves quickly, especially with the suspenseful personal stories interspersed with the historical context. The author also does a great job identifying and elucidating the seeds of financial and social issues today. Indeed, she brings the period of the 1910s to 1940s to life and shows how relevant it is to where we are today.
February 11, 2018
Una frase sfuggita al padre durante una discussione mette l’autrice sulle tracce del nonno materno e del suo torbido passato. Storia vecchia e attualissima di truffatori dal volto angelico ma ovviamente privi di scrupoli quando si tratta di nascondere i milioni estorti alla buona fede altrui. L’America rapace degli anni ‘30 non è poi così diversa da quella odierna. O dal resto del mondo, peraltro.
January 23, 2023
I thought this book was great. It took me a bit to get into it and I kept putting it down (mostly because i was reading other stuff too), but by the second or third chapter, I really started to love it and looked forward to reading it whenever I could
April 5, 2022
Was it theft or the Depression
That took everyone's investments?
That took everyone's investments?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews