Top market theorists, economists, authors, money managers, Wall Street executives and a key Congressman share their thoughts on what happened  and what's different today.

Whether it was timing the market from prison, dealing with panicky investors at work or losing a fortune,  readers recall  how the crash affected their lives and  balance sheets.

The warning signs were clear to one key member of Congress who wanted the agency to look into the increasingly volatile and worrisome market in early October.

The Dow surged on the first trading day of 1987 and kept climbing until its August peak. September was a non event. October was a month for the ages. Chart the rise and fall.

Check out these studies and histories of the crash and learn about physics and the crash, the psychology of investing and market confidence indices.

It's hard to believe but CNBC did not exist at the time., but  CNBC veterans Bill Griffeth, Sue Herera and Ron Insana, then at FNN,  covered the event. Here's how they remember it.

Twenty years after the crash of 1987, the market is at or near a record high. Such was also the case in 1997 on the the 10-year anniversary of the crash.  Here's how CNBC saw it then.

Many are quick to say that when it comes to investing little has changed since the crash.  Twenty years later, however, Wall Street and the securities business are quite a bit different.