This is the first full-length study of five U.S. banking panics of the Great Depression. Professor Wicker reconstructs a close historical narrative of each of the disturbances, investigating their origins, magnitude and effects, and he reappraises the role of Federal Reserve officials in the panics. His findings challenge many of the commonly-held assumptions about the events of 1930 and 1931, and will be of wide interest to students of the Great Depression, monetary and financial historians, financial and macroeconomists.