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Rearview Mirror Chronicles

Keith Hockton, FRAS, is a writer, publisher, and award-winning podcaster based in Penang, Malaysia, with a deep passion for uncovering the stories that shaped our world. As the Southeast Asia Editor for International Living magazine, Keith explores the intersections of history, culture, and modern life across the region.

A dynamic lecturer and storyteller, he speaks internationally on Southeast Asian politics, economics, and history—bringing the past to life with clarity, wit, and insight. Keith is also a proud Fellow of The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and is on a mission to make history not only accessible but genuinely entertaining for everyone.

His published books include:

• Atlas of Australian Dive Sites - Travellers Edition (Harper Collins Australia, 2003).

• Penang - An inside guide to its historic homes, buildings, monuments and parks (MPH Publishing, 2012; 2nd Edition 2014; 3rd Edition 2017).

• Festivals of Malaysia (Trafalgar Publishing, 2015).

• The Habitat Penang Hill: A pocket history (Entrepot Publishing, 2018)

• Alana and the Secret Life of Trees at Night (Entrepot Publishing, 2018)

• Penang Then & Now: A Century of Change in Pictures (Entrepot Publishing, 2019; 2nd Edition 2021
• Bersama Lima - Five Together (Entrepot Publishing, 2022)

www.entrepotpublishing.com

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Rearview Mirror Chronicles

Banking Collapses: When Empires Eat Themselves

February 18, 2025 • #HistoryPodcast,#FinancialHistory,#BankingCrises,#EconomicCollapse,#LessonsFromHistory,#HistoryRepeatsh,#Rome33AD,#SouthSeaBubble,#LehmanBrothers,#2008FinancialCrisis,#StockMarketCrash#,MoneyMatters,#FinanceFails,#HistoryMatters,#LearnFromThePast,#AvoidTh • Season 1 • Episode 79

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Money builds empires. But when it dies, it drags entire civilizations down with it.

From the marble halls of ancient Rome to the glass towers of modern Wall Street, financial collapse has haunted humanity like a recurring nightmare. In this episode of Rearview Mirror Chronicles, we open the vault on three devastating meltdowns: a liquidity crisis in 33 AD that brought the Roman elite to their knees, the South Sea Bubble of 1720 that turned speculation into madness, and the 2008 fall of Lehman Brothers—the spark that set the global economy on fire.

These weren’t just crashes. They were reckonings, the moments when confidence gave way to chaos, when greed outpaced reason, and when the illusion of control shattered.

So the question isn’t how did it happen? It’s why does it keep happening?

Join Keith as he dissects the anatomy of financial disaster—where power, hubris, and fear collide… and the price is always paid in silence and ruin.

For books written and published by Keith Hocton