Crash! Corporate Australia Fights for Its Life
Young Adult Non-Fiction Economic History Non-Fiction Narrative Corporate Finance Australian Business History True Crime – White Collar Investment & Markets
Crash! Corporate Australia Fights for Its Life is the dramatic, first-hand 1988 account of how Australia’s biggest companies stared down the 1987 stock-market collapse and lived to tell the tale. Written by award-winning business journalist John McManamy, this scarce first-edition paperback takes readers inside the boardrooms of Alan Bond, Christopher Skase, John Elliott and other corporate titans to reveal the frantic deals, near-bankruptcies and last-minute rescues that saved an economy. For collectors of Australian business history, it is the single most vivid chronicle of the crash as it happened, packed with insider quotes, share-price graphs and balance-sheet blow-ups that still serve as case-studies in universities today.
What makes this copy especially appealing to buyers is its immaculate, unread condition: clean, bright pages, no inscriptions, no dog-ears and a square, tight binding that belies its 36-year age. The light exterior scuffing is minor and typical for a trade paperback of the era, so the book remains solid enough for reference reading or proud display on a shelf of vintage Australiana. As a 1988 first edition it is already scarce in commerce; finding one without internal markings is genuinely rare.
Beyond collectability, the content itself is unexpectedly relevant to modern investors. McManamy’s step-by-step analysis of debt spirals, media manipulation and government bail-outs reads like a playbook for every market panic since—from the GFC to the recent pandemic sell-off. Young professionals, MBA students and personal-finance enthusiasts routinely pay top-dollar for later reprints; owning the untouched 1988 original delivers both bragging rights and a tangible piece of national economic heritage.
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