I am currently reading The Day the Bubble Burst, a Social history of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 by Thomas and Morgan-Wit. Very interesting and easy to read. It introduces all the big players of the age and some of the everyday folks. It shows the inner workings of the exchange, the embezzlement of a Michigan bank, how the house of Morgan operated. Stockbuying frenzy galore... You can read on Livermore, Ford, Morgan, Giannini, Raskob, Kennedy, etc. Lots of interesting background info. Very educative....
PBS did a special on the crash a couple of years ago. The subject is very interesting. It too mentioned all the major players and described the mass hysteria to "get into the market". They said Groucho Marx was dumping every penny he had into the market and that he, and most everyone at the time, were heavily margined. Margin was created durring the roaring twenties and people ate it up. Look what happened.