Robert Sobel

Robert Sobel (February 19, 1931 – June 2, 1999) was an American professor of history at Hofstra University and a prolific writer of business histories. During a career spanning more than four decades, he authored or co-authored more than 50 books and hundreds of articles on American business and finance.^[1]

Sobel was born in the Bronx. He completed his B.S.S. (1951) and M.A. (1952) at City College of New York, and after serving in the U.S. Army, obtained a Ph.D. from New York University in 1957.^[1] He began teaching at Hofstra University in 1956 and remained on its faculty for 43 years, eventually becoming Lawrence Stessin Distinguished Professor of Business History.^[2]

Sobel's first business history, published in 1965, was The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market, the first history of the stock market written in over a generation.^[3] The book's commercial and critical success launched his writing career.^[3] Reviewing The Last Bull Market: Wall Street in the 1960s (1980), Andrew Tobias wrote in The New York Times that reading Sobel was "as though you are walking through a historical theme park, with this engaging man at your side pointing out the sights."^[1]

Most of Sobel's books were written for a general audience. His colleague George David Smith, a professor of economic history at New York University, noted that Sobel was undisturbed when some academic writers characterized him as a "popularizer": "Quite the contrary—he saw that as his mission in life."^[1] From 1972 to 1988, his weekly investment column "Knowing the Street" was nationally syndicated through Newsday.^[1] He also contributed to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and at the time of his death was a contributing editor for Barron's.^[1]

Sobel was also known for his only work of fiction, the 1973 book For Want of a Nail, an alternate history in which Burgoyne won the Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolutionary War. The book presented the history of an alternate timeline complete with footnotes and a critical bibliography. It was republished in 1997 and received a special achievement Sidewise Award for Alternate History that year.^[4]

Sobel and his wife, the former Carole Ritter, had two children.^[1] He died from brain cancer at his home in Long Beach, New York, on June 2, 1999, at the age of 68.^[1] His final book, When Giants Stumble, was completed while he was undergoing cancer treatment and published by Prentice Hall shortly after his death.^[2] Hofstra University subsequently established the Robert Sobel Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Business History and Finance in his memory.^[1]

• Sobel, Robert (1973). For Want of a Nail ...; If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga. New York: Macmillan.

• Sobel, Robert (1960). The Origins of Interventionism: The United States and the Russo-Finnish War. New York: Bookman Associates.
• Sobel, Robert (1965). The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market. New York: Free Press.
• Sobel, Robert (1968). The Great Bull Market: Wall Street in the 1920s. New York: Norton.
• Sobel, Robert (1968). Panic on Wall Street: A History of America's Financial Disasters. New York: Macmillan.
• Sobel, Robert (1970). The Curbstone Brokers: The Origins of the American Stock Exchange. New York: Macmillan.
• Sobel, Robert (1972). The Age of Giant Corporations: A Microeconomic History of American Business, 1914–1970. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-6404-4.
• Sobel, Robert (1973). The Money Manias: The Eras of Great Speculation in America, 1770–1970. New York: Weybright and Talley.
• Sobel, Robert (1974). The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition. New York: Weybright and Talley. ISBN 0-679-40064-8.
• Sobel, Robert (1975). Herbert Hoover and the Onset of the Great Depression 1929–1930. New York: Lippincott. ISBN 0-397-47334-6.
• Sobel, Robert (1975). N.Y.S.E.: a history of the New York Stock Exchange: 1935–1975. New York: Weybright and Talley. ISBN 0-679-40124-5.
• Sobel, Robert (1978). They Satisfy: The Cigarette in American Life. New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-12956-4.
• Sobel, Robert (1980). Last Bull Market: Wall Street in the 1960s. New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-01309-X.
• Sobel, Robert (1981). IBM: Colossus in Transition. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8129-1000-1.
• Sobel, Robert (1982). ITT: The Management of Opportunity. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8129-1028-1.
• Sobel, Robert (1984). The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate Kings. New York: Stein and Day. ISBN 0-8128-2961-1.
• Sobel, Robert (1986). RCA. New York: Stein and Day. ISBN 0-8128-3084-9.
• Sobel, Robert; Sicilia, David (1986). The Entrepreneurs: An American Adventure. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-42020-2.
• Sobel, Robert (1989). Trammell Crow, Master Builder: The Story of America's Largest Real Estate Empire. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-61326-6.
• Sobel, Robert (1991). The Life and Times of Dillon Read. New York: Truman Talley Books/Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24959-1.
• Sobel, Robert (1993). Dangerous Dreamers: The Financial Innovators from Charles E. Merrill to Michael Milken. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-57734-0.
• Sobel, Robert (1998). Coolidge: An American Enigma. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Pub. ISBN 0-89526-410-2.
• Sobel, Robert (1999). When Giants Stumble: Classic Business Blunders and How to Avoid Them. Paramus, N.J.: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-7352-0059-9.
• Sobel, Robert (2000). The Great Boom 1950–2000: How a Generation of Americans Created the World's Most Prosperous Society. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-20890-1.

• Sicilia, David B., "Remembering Robert Sobel (1931–1999)", Enterprise & Society: The International Journal of Business History, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 182–187 (March 2000). SSRN 907169

• Booknotes interview with Sobel on Coolidge: An American Enigma, August 30, 1998.
• Robert Sobel at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Works by or about Robert Sobel at the Internet Archive