The House of Rothschild

Zusatztext "A stupendous achievement! a triumph of historical research and imagination." Robert Skidelsky! The New York Review of Books "Niall Ferguson's brilliant and altogether enthralling two-volume family saga proves that academic historians can still tell great stories that the rest of us want to read." The New York Times Book Review "Superb ... An impressive ... account of the Rothschilds and their role in history." Boston Globe Informationen zum Autor Niall Ferguson Klappentext The second volume of the history of the Rothschild banking dynasty is "a triumph of historical research and imagination".--Robert Skidelsky, "The New York Review of Books". A "New York Times" Notable Book. 8-page color insert. Charlotte's Dream (1849-1858) I went to sleep at 5 and woke against 6; I had dreamt that a huge vampire was greedily sucking my blood... Apparently, when the result of the vote was declared, a loud, enthusiastic roar of approval resounded ... throughout the House [of Lords]. Surely we do not deserve so much hatred. CHARLOTTE DE ROTHSCHILD, MAY 1849 Though they had managed to weather its storms financially, 1848 might still have proved a fatal turning point for the Rothschildsbut for reasons unrelated to economics and politics. For in the years immediately after the revolution the very structure of the family and the firm was called into question. It is easy to forget as one reads their letters that the four remaining sons of Mayer Amschel were by now old men. Amschel was seventy-seven in 1850, Salomon seventy-six and Carl an ailing sixty-two. Only James was still indefatigable at fifty-six. Longevity, on the other hand, was a family trait: though their father had died aged sixty-eight, their mother, born in 1753, lasted long enough to see the crown of a united Germany offered to a Prussian king by a national assembly gathered in her own home town. Indeed, Gutle Rothschild had become something of a by-word by the 1840s, as The Times reported: The venerable Madame Rothschild, of Frankfort, now fast approaching to her hundredth year, being a little indisposed last week, remonstrated in a friendly way with her physician on the inefficiency of hisprescriptions. "Que voulez-vous Madame?" said he, "unfortunately we cannot make you younger." "You mistake, doctor," replied the witty lady, "I do not ask you to make me younger. It is older I desire to become." Cartoons were published on the subject: one, entitled Grandmother's 99th Birthday , depicted James, with Gutle in the background, telling a group of well-wishers: "When she reaches par, gentlemen, I will donate to the state a little capital of 100,000 gulden" (see illustration 1.i). A different version of the same joke has a doctor assuring her she will "live to be a hundred." "What are you talking about?" snaps Gutle. "If God can get me for 81, He won't take me at a hundred!" Her dogged refusal to quit the old house "zum grünen Schild" in the former Judengasse appealed to contemporaries, suggesting as it did that the Rothschilds' phenomenal economic success was rooted in a kind of Jewish asceticism. Ludwig Börne had sung her praises on this score as early as 1827: "Look, there she lives, in that little house ... and has no wish, despite the world-wide sovereignty exercised by her royal sons, to leave her hereditary little castle in the Jewish quarter." When he visited Frankfurt sixteen years later, Charles Greville was amazed to behold "the old mother of the Rothschilds" emerging from her "same dark and decayed mansion ... not a bit better than any of the others" in the "Jews' street": In this narrow gloomy street, and before this wretched tenement, a smart calèche was stand...

"A stupendous achievement, a triumph of historical research and imagination."—Robert Skidelsky, *The New York Review of Books

"Niall Ferguson's brilliant and altogether enthralling two-volume family saga proves that academic historians can still tell great stories that the rest of us want to read."—The New York Times Book Review

"Superb ... An impressive ... account of the Rothschilds and their role in history."—Boston Globe*

Auteur
Niall Ferguson is one of the world's most renowned historians. He is the author of Paper and Iron, The House of Rothschild, The Pity of War, The Cash Nexus, Empire, Colossus, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, High Financier, Civilization, The Great Degeneration, Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, and The Square and the Tower. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His many awards include the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Public Service (2010), the Hayek Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2012) and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism (2013).

Texte du rabat

The second volume of the history of the Rothschild banking dynasty is "a triumph of historical research and imagination".--Robert Skidelsky, "The New York Review of Books". A "New York Times" Notable Book. 8-page color insert.

Résumé
*A major work of economic, social and political history, Niall Ferguson's *The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker 1849-1999 is the second volume of the acclaimed, landmark history of the legendary Rothschild banking dynasty.

*Niall Ferguson's *House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848 was hailed as a "great biography" by Time magazine and named one of the best books of the year by Business Week. Now, with all the depth, clarity and drama with which he traced their ascent, Ferguson - the first historian with access to the long-lost Rothschild family archives - concludes his myth-breaking portrait of once of the most fascinating and power families of all time. From Crimea to World War II, wars repeatedly threatened the stability of the Rothschilds' worldwide empire. Despite these many global upheavals, theirs remained the biggest bank in the world up until the First World War, their interests extending far beyond the realm of finance. Yet the Rothschilds' failure to establish themselves successfully in the United States proved fateful, and as financial power shifted from London to New York after 1914, their power waned.

"A stupendous achievement, a triumph of historical research and imagination."—**Robert Skidelsky, *The New York Review of Books

"Niall Ferguson's brilliant and altogether enthralling two-volume family saga proves that academic historians can still tell great stories that the rest of us want to read."—The New York Times Book Review

"Superb ... An impressive ... account of the Rothschilds and their role in history."—Boston Globe*

Niall Ferguson's new book The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook will be published in January 2018. 

Échantillon de lecture
*Charlotte's Dream
(1849-1858)
*

• *

I went to sleep at 5 and woke against 6; I had dreamt that a huge vampire was greedily sucking my blood... Apparently, when the result of the vote was declared, a loud, enthusiastic roar of approval resounded ... throughout the House [of Lords]. Surely we do not deserve so much hatred. CHARLOTTE DE ROTHSCHILD, MAY 1849

Though they had managed to weather its storms financially, 1848 might still have proved a fatal turning point for the Rothschilds—but for reasons unrelated to economics and politics. For in the years immediately after the revolution the very structure of the family and the firm was called into question. It is easy to forget as one reads their letters that the four remaining sons of Mayer Amschel were by now old men. Amschel was seventy-seven in 1850, Salomon seventy-six and Carl an ailing sixty-two. Only James was still indefatigable at fifty-six.

    Longevity, on the other han…