Review By: Myra Salzer
I picked up this book out of curiosity. Maybe by reading it, I would glean from it why the banking industry was always associated with Jews. I also thought I might learn a little about my Jewish background since I was raised in a completely non-secular environment. Of course, I heard of firms like the Lehman Brothers, Seligman & Co., and Goldman Sachs. Why I didn’t associate them with their Jewish-immigrant background is merely because I don’t think in terms of Jewish versus gentile. The book, however, certainly did, and the Jewish banking community did clash with the gentile firms such as JP Morgan and Jay Gould.
The book’s timeframe covered is from the 1830s to the 1940s. The initial immigrants came from Germany. Little did I know that German and Western European Jews seem to have a superior opinion of themselves compared to Eastern European Jews. (I happen to be of Hungarian descent, an Eastern European country.)
I also hadn’t realized that at the turn of the 19th century, Christians were not “allowed” to loan money and charge interest on the loan. That opened the door to Jews. Who knew! So, you can see how Jews built a semi-monopoly when it came to banking.
Comparisons were made of anti-Semitic attitudes in New York, and the South and West; how those attitudes evolved over time (especially during the Gilded Age); and how the different dynastic families were interconnected. Furthermore, families and individuals within the families had wide ranging moral compasses.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in history and finance and the inheritance of Jews. This is their [and my] legacy.