Maggie Mahar's Bull! is worth your reading time, if you invest. It's a recounting of the late great bull market, with tons of thought-provoking(!) quotes by people such as Jim Chanos, Marc Faber, and James Grant (people to read further on). That said, Mahar acts more as a compiler of quotes, and doesn't provide any useful analysis regarding the bear market's causes. Worse, she anthropomorphizes the bear market into some sentient Beast from Hell. This narrative shortcut undermines her education of the masses, as the reader is tempted to think that bear markets may not have identifiable causes.

The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in your wake.
-- Alan Greenspan

I wonder if Alan had someone specific in mind, when he made this comment.