World War II was a world war, and there was great uncertainty at the time whether Western Civilization would survive. But today, those dark years offer many relevant lessons—about life, politics, financial markets, wealth, and survival—that can help investors, both large and small, deal with adversity and difficult times. In Wealth, War & Wisdom, legendary Wall Street investor Barton Biggs reveals how the turning points of World War II intersected with market performance, and shows how these lessons can help the twenty-first century investor comprehend our own perilous times as well as choose the best strategies for the modern market economy. Biggs reveals how "the wisdom of the markets" prevails, even in the most turbulent of eras: the British stock market bottomed out just before the Battle of Britain; the U.S. market turned at the epic Battle of Midway; and the German market peaked at the high-water mark of Germany’s attack on Russia. Those events turned out to be the three great turning points of World War II—although at the time, no one and no instrument except the stock markets recognized them. Through these pages, Biggs skillfully discusses the performance of equities in both victorious and defeated countries, reveals how individuals preserved their wealth despite the ongoing battles, and explores whether or not public equities were able to increase in value and serve as a wealth preserver. Biggs also looks at how other assets, including real estate and gold, fared during this dynamic and devastating period, and offers valuable insights on preserving one’s wealth for future generations. Investors, unlike traders and speculators, must make long-term judgments about the course of events in economies and the world. Wealth, War & Wisdom provides a new and revealing context for such judgments. And its lively and lucid pages are completely relevant, indeed essential, to predicting the way modern financial markets and the economy will act during uncertain times that increasingly define this new century