After the crash, investors were left in ruin. One soap star lost his kids" six-figure college funds and his marriage. Products that once brought bids of $500 or more languished unsold on eBay with starting prices of $1. But it wasn"t internet-stock mania or the housing bubble that ruined these investors. With his first hardcover, Zac Bissonnette tackles the astonishing rise and fall of a plush children"s toy: The Beanie Baby. Little has been written about the Beanie Baby craze of the 1990s. A phenomenon that propelled toy mogul Ty Warner to a net worth of $5.2 billion has since left journalists and participants almost too embarrassed to address the most inane bubble of an era that was full of bubbles. But so many questions remain: - How did Beanie Babies get so hot? - How could a toy that was essentially lacking in innovation become such a phenomenon without any advertising or distribution through major retailers? - Why did it crash? - And most of all: What the hell were people...