Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004110005
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by MARY ANN JOHNSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
With thanks to Tom Wolfe - and a Bronx raspberry to Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken and their ilk - Wall Street intrigue is a hot topic. Michael Thomas, former banking partner of Lehman Brothers and Burham and Co., brings first-hand experience to his expose of the shrewd and unseemly dealings in the world of high finance.
"Hanover Place" begins in the genteel New York of 1924 with the wedding of Lyda Vanderlyn Farwell to Howland Warrington of the inimitable investment firm of S.L. Warrington & Sons. When Lyda marries Howland she marries The Firm and anticipates a "triumphant progress through life." The firm emerges from the Depression relatively unscathed, but when World War II hits American shores, triumph becomes tragedy.
There are changes in the family, changes in the firm and changes in the city. Thomas, in a manner reminiscent of Dos Passos although not as thorough, chronicles details of the period - what and where the wealthy ate, what they read and talked about, what sports and activities occupied them, their politics, their lifestyles, their prejudices.
This latter threatens to consume Thomas' book. It is saturated with expressions of bigotry. Anti-Semitism is historical fact, but Thomas goes beyond fact to the point where it is difficult to know whether he is sounding a warning for the future or indulging personal bias. Most, although not all, of the Jews in his book are depicted as greedy manipulators without conscience. On the other hand, the bumbling WASPs do not come off any better, and neither do Christian fundamentalists or other segments of society. There are no heroes here.
New York itself changes from the wonderful city captured in the many paintings collected by Lyda (Thomas is past curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) to a coarse, insensitive, grim city where commotion is mistaken for energy. Skyscrapers rise and obscure the view of parks and rivers. Society loses its grace; money is substituted for class.
Thomas takes a dim view of Wall Street shenanigans, and in describing them he provides a wealth of information about activities on the market, more than the average reader will want. Read "Hanover Place" like a ticker tape - pick out stocks of interest, note overall trends and try not to take the highs and lows too much to heart.
by CNB