This lower level liberal studies course addresses a historical tendency for the financial and stock markets to exhibit periodic unstable cycles or speculative booms, followed by market downturns, instability or in the extreme, total collapse. These patterns of cyclical behaviour are illuminated by focusing on crises, beginning with the Tulip Mania. The South Seas Bubble, the 1929 Crash, the dot-com collapse and the more recent financial crisis are included.