Generation Desperation

The must-read memoir of trading your way to a million dollars via Robinhood and WallStreetBets

By: Alexander Hurst

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Hardcover | 29 January 2026 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Format
Hardcover

Dimensions(cm)
24.2 x 16.3 x 3.1

Hardcover

RRP $49.99

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The modern-day American dream: one man's journey into the depths of Reddit trading forums chasing the promise of a 'better life''A fantastically compelling personal story that is also the story of a generation . . . Told with perfect timing.' - SIMON KUPER 'Searing insights into the challenges of coming of age in the 21st century . . . an instructive tale about a smart young man looking to grow up in the precariousness of our time.' - BLOOMBERGAS FEATURED IN THE SUNDAY TIMES--------AFTER THE RISE, THERE COMES A FALL. In 2020, Alexander Hurst was 29 years old and broke, living as a writer in a cramped Paris flatshare. There were murmurs that a global pandemic was coming. Financial stability seemed unattainable, so far removed from his reality - the reality of the generation who came of age during the 2008 financial crisis. On a whim, he poured his meagre savings into highly risky options trading. Within a year this small set of stocks was worth $1.2 million. Enough to turn his life on its head - but not in the way he had imagined, as he began a slow-motion descent into losing it all. In exploring Alexander's remarkable rise and fall from wealth, Generation Desperation grapples with the vital questions of our age: what do class and status mean in a late-stage capitalist society? Can everyone really build the life they want? Or is there a cost to pursuing money above everything?Generation Desperation is an urgent, unmissable fable for our times. ---------'Has an appealing timelessness . . . Hurst weaves the personal and the generational together with seamless ease in a thrilling book.' - SEB EMINA'A riveting, tender, and painfully timely epic about what really matters.' - ANGELICA FERRARA'Clever and brutally honest.' - LINDSEY TRAMUTA

Industry Reviews

A fantastically compelling personal story that is also the story of a generation. Hurst captures millennial desperation about money, and the seduction of get-rich-quick stories in the social-media era. Told with perfect timing.

A cautionary tale to young men raised on internet hustle culture . . . Generation Desperation is a riveting, tender, and painfully timely epic about what really matters.

A clever and brutally honest, zeitgeisty tale.

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