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Loading... The Rothschilds: A Family Portraitby Frederic Morton
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This is Morton's first book, and is by now soemwhat dated. The early part tells the story of the rise of the Rothschilds well, but as the book progresses it spends much time tellin of the silly extravagances of the Rothschilds, which really seems diagusting and ridiculous. Do by the time I finished the book I was glad it was ending. I did read Gut de Rothschild's memoir The Whims of Fortune: The Memoirs of Guy de Rothschild (read 22 Jan 1994) nd found it pretty good reading in parts. (  ) Schmerguls | Aug 27, 2009 |  Very well-written story of the Rothschild family, beginning with the story of Meyer Rothschild returning to the city of his birth, Frankfurt, at age 20 in 1764. He was forced to live in the Jewish ghetto, but managed to befriend well-placed persons, including the nobility, throughout the city and the country. His sons benefitted from these connections and built on them in their own fashion, establishing family strongholds in several other European cities, notably London and Paris. Their connections and internal family network helped them to develop an increasingly strong banking network; their business skills enabled them to strengthen it repeatedly (though their most devastating techniques appear to rely on market manipulation which would be inappropriate if not downright illegal today). Their business successes led to the creation of immense fortunes, and the development of fabulous personal estates throughout Europe, while fighting prejudice against the Jewish faith throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The book was published in 1961, and so ends at that point, but still provides a fascinating view into the family and the times. The author is clearly a fan of the family (and in fact his foreword indicates that he worked closely with certain members of the family), so it is overwhelmingly positive and sunny, but enjoyable nonetheless. Recommended. (  ) Goodwillbooks | Apr 15, 2007 | Did you realize people used to collect Rothschildiana? Has any other family husbanded such varied and spectacular personalities who do not seem bound by the pettiness of wealth? Great wealth. At the end of the 18th century, a Frankfurt money changer, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, moved into a house on Jew Street crowded with five sons. Each of them moved out, to five European cities, and finally to the treasuries of world power. The author has a gift, noted by Aldous Huxley, for characterization. He also records financial strategies -- historical and current [274ff]. keylawk | Dec 31, 2006 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 156836220X, Paperback)NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEELong regarded as the most magical of the European dynasties, the Rothschild family today remains one of the most powerful and wealthy in the world. No family in the past two centuries has been so constantly at the center of Europe's great events, has featured such varied and spectacular personalities, has had anything close to the wealth of the Rothschilds. In Frederic Morton's classic tale, the family is brought vividly to life. Here you'll meet characters as lively as you can imagine: Mayer, long-time advisor to Germany's princes, who broke through the barriers of a Frankfurt ghetto and placed his family on the road to wealth and power; Lord Alfred, who maintained a private train, private orchestra (which he conducted), and private circus (of which he was ringmaster); Baron Philippe, whose rarefied vintages bear labels created by great artists, among them Picasso, Dali, and Haring; and Kathleen Nica Rothschild de Koenigswarter, the "jazz baroness," in whose arms Charlie Parker died. The family itself has been at the center of some of the most crucial moments in history: the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, the development of the Suez Canal, the introduction of Jews in the House of Lords. Through it all, the Rothschild name has continued to represent the family ideal: a shrewd business and financial sense, activity in the Jewish community and the arts, and an always luxurious-and often eccentric-lifestyle. Nominated for a National Book Award when it was first published in 1962, Frederic Morton's The Rothschllds is here reissued with a new afterword by the author, bringing the tale of this extraordinary family to the present. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:08 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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