Buffett: The Making of An American Capitalist.

First edition of this landmark work on Warren Buffett. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Boldly signed by legendary investors Warren Buffett and Burton Malkiel on the front free endpaper. Warren Buffett (born 1930) and Burton Malkiel (born 1932) emerged as influential figures in finance during the second half of the twentieth century, particularly from the 1960s onward, operating within overlapping intellectual and professional contexts that included academia, financial publishing, and public debates on market efficiency. They are often positioned at opposite ends of the investment philosophy spectrum: Buffett is a leading proponent of value investing grounded in fundamental analysis and long-term ownership of high-quality firms, while Malkiel, best known for A Random Walk Down Wall Street, advances the efficient market hypothesis and argues that asset prices largely reflect available information, rendering active stock selection unreliable for most investors. Despite these methodological differences, their views converge on several core principles of modern finance, including skepticism toward short-term market timing and an emphasis on disciplined, long-horizon investing. Buffett’s public endorsement of low-cost index funds for the majority of investors aligns closely with Malkiel’s long-standing advocacy of passive investment strategies, indicating a shared recognition of the structural difficulties of achieving persistent excess returns. Although they diverge on the degree of market efficiency, both ultimately support evidence-based approaches that prioritize cost minimization and the mitigation of behavioral error. Fine in a near dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Michael O'Brien.