Amazon.com (ISBN 0471344990, Hardcover)

People panicked during a credit crunch or economic downturn on London's Lombard Street of the 1800s just as they do on Wall Street today. That's only one reason this reprint of the classic book by famed 19th-century economist Walter Bagehot offers lessons even now. First published in 1873, the book is a compilation of 11 essays that Bagehot wrote as the editor of The Economist, and includes his advice to banks for dealing with financial crises: "We must keep a great store of ready money always available, and advance out of it very freely in periods of panic, and in times of incipient alarm. Any notion that money is not to be had, or that it may not be had at any price, only raises alarm to panic and enhances panic to madness."

In terms of the U.S. savings-and-loan crisis and the Asian economic meltdown of the 1990s, Bagehot's words still ring as timely, even with the dated references to British politics of the time. For example, he proposed allowing unstable banks to collapse and advocated creating an independent finance professional to run the nation's central bank. Lombard Street, named after London's financial district and the birthplace of the money market, will be an eye opener for students and others interested in the history and workings of financial systems. --Dan Ring