At least once in every century there has been an episode of massive wealth destruction when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death - have ridden. The apocalypse will come again, but probably in a very different form than in the past. How do you preserve wealth amidst chaos, and are there messages from what has happened in the past? In "Wealth, War & Wisdom", renowned Wall Street investor Barton Biggs studies World War II. He notes the surprising and previously unrecognized wisdom of stock markets in discerning the major tipping points. He then examines the performance of different asset classes, and what happened to wealth before and during the war. There are lessons to be learned as to what steps should be taken to preserve and enhance wealth in times of the most extreme adversity. Biggs discusses the performance of equities in both victorious and defeated countries and also relates what happened to other forms of wealth such as bonds,...