A Piece of the Action

Joe Nocera's 1994 social history of how financial products — mutual funds, credit cards, 401(k)s — were introduced to middle-class Americans between 1950 and 1990, reframing financial democratization as a series of chaotic improvisations.

Narrates the credit card's introduction to American consumers as a social and cultural history — not just a business story — showing how BankAmerica literally mailed credit cards to 60,000 Fresno residents unsolicited, and how the chaos of that introduction shaped the credit industry.