Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Cast of Characters -- 1. Storms in the Caribbean Sea and the Life of Lord Londonderry -- 2. The War of the Spanish Succession and the Jacobite Rebellion -- 3. The Diamond Deal -- 4. Learning by Doing: Law and Londonderry Before the Bet -- 5. The Bet of the Bubbles...

Two of the greatest financial fiascos of all time took place at the same time and were instigated by two acquaintances: the Mississippi Bubble, on which John Law at first made a vast fortune and gained sway over French finances; and the South Sea Bubble, launched by Law and Thomas Pitt, Jr.,...