The House of Rothschild, Vol 1: Money's Prophets, 1798-1848

The House of Rothschild #1

by Niall Ferguson

In his rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family, Oxford scholar and bestselling author Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family's phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family's vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. And he tells a family saga, tracing the importance of unity and the profound role of Judaism in the lives of a dynasty that rose from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto and later used its influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe. A definitive work of impeccable scholarship with a thoroughly engaging narrative, 'The House of Rothschild' is a biography of the rarest kind, in which mysterious and fascinating historical figures finally spring to life.

Genres: History, Biography, Finance, Business, Nonfiction, Economics, Politics

544 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Niall Ferguson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, former Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and current senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and founder and managing director of advisory firm Greenmantle LLC.

The author of 15 books, Ferguson is writing a life of Henry Kissinger, the first volume of which--Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist--was published in 2015 to critical acclaim. The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild won the Wadsworth Prize for Business History. Other titles include Civilization: The West and the Rest, The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die and High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg.

Ferguson's six-part PBS television series, "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World," based on his best-seller, won an International Emmy for best documentary in 2009. Civilization was also made into a documentary series. Ferguson is a recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Service as well as other honors. His most recent book is The Square and the Tower: Networks on Power from the Freemasons to Facebook (2018).

(Source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niall Ferguson is a preeminent historian. This was his first book that helped build his reputation as a meticulous researcher. This is a scholarly work and is not for everyone.

The book is well written and meticulously researched. Ferguson has gone into depth and with great detail in telling the history of the Rothschild family. The author tells the story of a German Jewish family from the ghettoes who rose over many generations to be the most powerful and secretive family held financial institution in the world. At times the book is a bit tedious. Overall, I learned a great amount of most interesting information about finance, as well about the finance of wars. The family are Jewish and experienced extreme anti-Semitism over the centuries. I found the hatred of the Jews in Europe over the centuries shocking. They confined them to walled in ghettoes, made them wear certain markings on their clothing and then about every fifty years they killed them in massive numbers. I found the book fascinating, but it will be a while before I tackle volume two.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is twenty-eight hours and eleven minutes. Alexander Adams does an excellent job narrating the book. Alexander Adams is a pseudonym for narrator Grover Gardner. Gardner is an Audie winner and has won eighteen Earphone Awards. He is also Audiophile’s One of the Best Voices of the Century and a winner of the Golden Voice Award.

[W. Littlejohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if someone wrote a book claiming that the development of modern capitalism was the product of a secretive and inbred family of Jews, for half a century the wealthiest men alive, the bankers to every major European monarch, who gained their fortune as war profiteers in the age of Napoloeon and went on to control the international bond market and the currency exchanges of Europe, who pulled the strings of diplomacy and empire throughout the Hundred Years’ Peace when Europe ruled the world, a family whose hundred tentacles still extend, secretive as ever, through the banks and financiers of the world, and who are behind some of the largest and most sinister corporations of the last century, such as Rio Tinto Mining Corporation and De Beers Diamonds? Ha! What kind of neo-Nazi nut case would whip up a conspiracy theory that grandiose and unlikely?!

But this story (which could also be told as a perfect rags-to-riches fairy tale) is actually true, and it is told in compelling and exhaustive detail by Niall Ferguson in this volume and its sequel.

This was Ferguson's first great tour-de-force as a historian, and as such, it is much more detailed and analytical than the grand sweeping narratives of Empire and the Ascent of Money--no, it was the hard work of a book like this that earned Ferguson the right to write books like that. So this book is not for the faint of heart. It is about 500 pages of small type, but more importantly, it is laden down with an immense weight of detailed facts, quotations, statistics, and above all, financial jargon--nineteenth-century financial jargon at that. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it, though it is best digested in small chunks over several months, I should think--the way I digested it.

It's interesting to note that even here, in this most "objective" of histories, we can see Ferguson adopting the role of amoral apologist for Mammon that he develops on such a grand scale in his later works. He is at pains to disprove the most sinister myths about the Rothschilds, and paint them (as much as possible) as philanthropic progressives, all the while telling a narrative of bribery, intrigue, price-fixing, double-dealing, and boundless greed--all of which, in the telling, looks fairly bland and run-of-the-mill, because it is simply how we have come to assume banking works, but all of which was deeply shocking to many of their contemporaries.

A full review/retelling of the story will appear in the January 2011 issue of Fermentations magazine.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book before Niall Ferguson became the favourite historian of Neoliberalism. This was a deadly boring book. His style was 'then he did that and then did the other etc etc'. It seemingly avoided all but a cursory examination of the family's Jewishness and what it meant to be a Jewish financier in Central Europe.
He is the most highly overrated living historian in the English speaking world.

[Straker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious in the extreme. Should come packaged with a machete, because you have to hack your way through it.

[Stevenglinert · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you, like me, groan loudly at shows and cultural items that glorify European nobility, from Pierre in War and Peace to all the Victorian movies/shows where every male actor looks like Eddie Redmayne, then the story of Rothschilds will be deeply satisfying. Niall Ferguson is a fantastic writer, but if I may riff for a second...

Nathaniel Rothschild is Kanye West. To the European nobles he did business with: He knows you don't like him, he sees you cringing at his Jewishness, but he also knows he runs the show, and he's going to make damn sure you know it. You get giddy reading the contempt he has for the average European aristocrat. It's delightfully similar to the joy we all take, and I'm sure Kanye takes, in making a fool out of Taylor Swift.

A decorated Prussian aristocrat comes to Nathaniel Rothschild. Nathaniel doesn't look up from his desk, "take a seat". The Prussian feels offended, "Do you know the eminence to which you are speaking?" Nathaniel, still not looking up, "Fine, take two seats."

Lines like "When a Jew lends to a noble, he owns that noble" sound conspiratorial now, but he is not wrong in seeing himself as the winner of the Napoleonic Wars. And you have to love that he would drunkenly horrify/entertain his guests later in life by putting on all the courtly uniforms of the courts that had knighted him. He trolls with the best.

Nathaniel and his brothers leave the Frankfurt ghetto as the French Revolution is getting underway. Nathaniel goes to London and proceeds to revolutionize financial markets and through daring, cunning, risk-taking, mathematical acumen, and pure viciousness dominate financial markets. The Rothschilds understand markets on a level which is distinctly modern. Concepts that we consider basic, like hedging and arbitrage, they invent to dominate the financial landscape of the Napoleonic Wars and the 19th century. It's a beautiful thing.

We love Hamilton, but perhaps we're not far enough away from the financial crisis to truly love Nathaniel Rothschild like we love Hamilton, but unlike the white Hamilton, Nathaniel is a continuous outcast Jew.

Heinrich Heine says it well: "I see in Rothschild one of the greatest revolutionaries who have founded modern democracy. Richelieu, Robespierre, and Rothschild are Europe's most fearful levellers...Rothschild destroyed the predominance of land, by raising the system of state bonds to supreme power."

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always wanted to know more about the Rothschilds, and it was a Kindle deal. But I give up (30%) -

This is a HIGHLY scholarly book - this is not for the causal reader who wants to learn a little about the Rothschilds. It is full on financial detail. The research is impressive, and I would think that people working on their pHDs in finance and economics would do well to read this. The part I read gave intense detail - how much was spent here, how much lent there, who what where in the lending, Nathan Rothschild's entry to England, the costs of Napolean's 100 days.

The oppressive spectre of antisemitism permeates every page. Perhaps eventually there is some opening up from the tight family finances, (but this HUGE tome is only volume I).

Life is too short, and this is not a book to be read for pleasure. Unless you are deeply involved in money, in which case, you could probably learn something.

So, I tip my hat to the author, close the book.

[Lex Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing account of how one family defied social stigmas and broke through the proverbial glass ceiling to become the premiere banking family of the world. Ferguson does a masterful job of explaining in excruciating detail just how this small tight knit family came to conquer the world financially.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The House of Rothschild is a hefty tome covering 200 years and several generations of this family. It is published in two volumes, each about 650 pages long in small (?6 point?) type. In hard cover, each one qualifies as a kitten crusher; together they could harm a small pony.

Since they were published as a set, I will be writing a common review.

The author is Niall Ferguson an unrepentant booster of monetary systems and capitalism. You may remember him from the PBS series, “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World” or “Civilization: The West and the Rest” both of which are also books. (Also broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK.) He is a historian and currently is a Professor of History at Harvard University and holds other postings.

I’ve watched the aforementioned series and thought he was interesting enough to look up his earlier works.

Because he is a historian and took that approach while researching and writing this history, there are tons of notes on the source material. Each volume has at least 100 pages of “end notes” detailing these sources and there are copious quotations (both in brief phrases as well as longer passages) throughout the books. Those hungry for details and justification of the author’s observations and comments will not go away disappointed.

I don’t intend to provide extension observations about each of these volumes. To do each one justice would require much more time than I can devote to the task. The author himself wrote that the creation of this history was much longer than planned for: I am not surprised given the wealth of material.

For those who want a quick answer, these books are excellent. As much as it seemed a slog at points I was caught up in the details of the family, their businesses, and their worlds. As I neared the end of volume 2, I spoke about them to a colleague who is now inflamed with a desire to read these books. I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job with the material. One thing that he does a lot of is debunk contemporary and current myths about the family.

Four and one-half (4.5) Stars (rounded down to 4.0 for Goodreads).


The House of Rothschild: Money’s Prophets 1798-1848

Theirs is a rags-to-riches story. The Jewish Ghetto of Frankfurt was one of the most repressive in Western or Central Europe. Begun in the 12th century it had not changed much in the 18th: the laws controlling the lives and livelihoods of Jews were very strict and repressive. The man who is considered the “founder” of the famous branch of the family, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (an Ashkenazi Jew) began life as the son of a respectable man, but not one of wealth. Both of his parents died before his thirteen birthday and after and apprenticeship in Hanover, he returned to Frankfurt in1764.

There he began a business career that made him a respectable, if not prosperous man. As the years went on, he trained his five sons in business and began to establish them in the cities that would house the five branches of the family bank: Frankfurt (Amschel), London (Nathan), Naples (Carl), Vienna (Solomon), and Paris (James).

As the history of Europe unfolded around them, the family was able to conduct business between countries and even warring states (their primary business during this period was lending to governments or rulers). Changes in the balance of power and rulership began to liberalize the laws in many countries, although the German states remained behind other. England was, by far, the most liberal at this time.

In setting up the branches and overseeing its operation, the father stressed cooperation and unity over all else. He also planned for the future of the family and designed a scheme whereby the firm’s “capital” would remain with the family and not diluted as new generations arose. Only male descendents were eligible to be partners. Daughters, while given generous gifts and dowries were excluded, as were their husbands. Furthermore, in order to remain “concentrated”, family members began marrying within the family. For example the youngest son, James, married the daughter of his oldest brother. The 3rd generation had many cousin marriages. It was the family’s great good fortune that they did not carry any recessive genes. Such marriages continued into the 4th and 5th generations.

The family remained Jewish in faith and race. They may not have been the most devout, buy they did observe the rules and laws and did not “convert” like many others (e.g. Benjamin Disraeli’s family.) When one of Nathan’s daughters did convert to marry, she was shunned by almost everyone including her own mother. They were seen as exemplars of successful Jews who also cared about their “co-religionists”; speaking out for tolerance and donating to community needs and causes.

Having survived the turmoil of the French Revolution and Napoleon, the family became involved in new markets. Although the English bank, N. M. Rothschild & Sons was less active (but they founded an insurance company), James (de Rothschild & Frères) was convinced that railroads (and their government subsidies) were excellent investments. His vision caused the consolidation and merger of small lines (his and his competitors) into major transportation networks. They also became involved in metals (mining and refining) initially as security for loans to unstable economies.

Despite the turmoil of these years, the family’s wealth grew and when Nathan died in 1836, his fortune was easily twice (and possibly as much as five times) that of the next wealthiest man in England in the 1830s-50s; thus, making him the wealthiest man in the world by far. At his death, brother James became the leading figure in the family until shortly before his own death in 1868.


The House of Rothschild: The World’s Banker 1849-1999

In this second volume, the author gives us in detail the history of the family until about 1918. For the period thereafter, he provides more summary than before (some of which is recounted as oral conversations instead of archived source material). For the years after World War II, an epilogue covers the effects of their losses (due to seizure and nationalization during the war years) and the transformation of the remaining branches of the business into the current modern forms (including the revival of a Frankfurt office.)

In the years before the end of the 19th Century, the family business continues to grow in size and in diversity. They invest in additional transportation (railways) and take interests in mines in the New World, including Rino Tinto a leading mining and exploration company (then and now). They also handle much of the gold supply coming into England. They had built much of their business (in Vol. 1) on gold bullion, gold coinage, and other metals (e.g. silver). They had even taken over a refinery from the Bank of England to control purity and retain more of the profits.

Alth0ugh they had occasional setbacks (and better competitors), their relationships with policy makers and rulers, their courier system and news sources, and their use by others as a “back-channel” for diplomacy kept them well-informed. Their financial acumen and experience and ability to ship money between the houses made them very hard to beat. As their clients grew (and despite limited success in the USA) they truly were the World’s Banker for some 15-20 years.

Although an Austrian Emperor had elevated the brothers (hence the “von” or “de” designation), the English branch (Nathan) had not used the title. His son Lionel, although elected to the House of Commons in 1847, he was unable to be seated (there was a Christian oath required). After numerous re-elections, he was finally seated in 1858 as the first Jewish MP (Disraeli did not count having taken the standard oath). Although proposed, Queen Victoria refused to elevate him to a peerage. In 1885 she made Lionel’s son Nathan Mayer (more of a full-time politician than his father) the first Jewish member of the House of Lords,

In the second generation most of the family’s wealth was spent “carefully”. Property investments were selected partly for comfort but also for business (either client relations, banking, or as money-earning investments). In the third and later generations (and James, as he lived into these later years), they began to buy and create grander and grander estates. At this time they also acquired many of the works of art that were lost in the confiscations of WWII. Nathan’s son, Nathaniel, who went and stayed in France, bought the vineyard today known as Mouton Rothschild in 1853. (Before the 1855 Classification of Bordeaux). Fifteen years later, Uncle James bought the much larger Chateau Lafite (Lafite Rothschild).

By the 4th and 5th generations, the Partners were spending fewer hours in the “counting room” offices and competitors were cutting into their traditional business. Different kinds of bank which raised funds via shares sold to investors (rather than retained family capital) were able to address old and new markets. These banks (at least some of them) also took on deposits (which the Rothschilds typically did very little of). By the onset of the First World War, although still a viable and profitable business they were no longer at the core of European banking. At this same time, American powerhouse banks (like Morgan & Sons) were beginning to finance the European countries needs. Investments that proved exceptional included further South African gold mines and shares in the Diamond Cartel know as De Beers.

And while not everyone in the family may have been financially astute (or even keen on making it their career), they became (like many other late-Victorian/Edwardian era gentlemen botanists, naturalists, and other forms of scientists – with many writing learned papers on their subject.

In 1919, as war time restrictions were relaxed or lifted, (including that of gold export from the UK), N. M Rothschild became the intermediary between the bullion market and the Bank of England. Thus, on September 12, 1919, the first “fix” (the world market price for gold) was set at 11 AM by an auction. This has continued (except during WWII) to the present day, with prices set now at 11 AM and 3 PM. Who knew? (One reason for this arrangement was that the South African mines supplied about half the world’s supply at this time.)

There are as many interesting facts in this volume as in the first. Since the end of the 40s, the family has suffered some setbacks (such as nationalization of assets at low valuations) and internal strife. But as the end of the 20th Century approached, there was revitalization as both the banks’ structures and the Partners changed. Today, the Rothschilds are still a wealthy family of bankers, but they also have non-family partners and raise money like many other investment banks (or hedge funds). They still retain many of the traditional assets (like the vineyards), but have branched out in to all areas of finance and the economy. They even own Club Med.

[Frank Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sprawling, fascinating, deep and finally difficult work of history, one that offers an original glance at the 19th century through the eyes of the family that financed much of it.

Ferguson shows convincingly how a family of Frankfurt antique dealers ascended the hierarchy of finance during the Napoleanic wars to become the richest individuals in history. Thanks to Mayer Amschel's five sons scattered across Europe, in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Naples and Vienna, and their family creed of "Concordia," the Rothshcilds were able to trade bills, bullion, and subsidies across the continent for both the French, and, more importantly, the allies, who needed funds for their scattered campaigns. In the post-bellum period, alliances with such nabobs as the British Treasury member John Charles Herries and infamous reactionary Austrian diplomat Prince Metternich, both of whom the Rothschild offered rich personal subventions, allowed them to dominate the world of government bonds, and thus dictate many government policies, especially those regarding war and peace.

While many contemporaries noted the irony of Jewish bankers being the main prop for the the "Holy Alliance" of Catholic monarchies in the East, and the Protestant ones in the West, Ferguson shows that in fact if the Rothschild's had a bias towards anything it was towards peace, an expensive and armed peace they preferred, but peace nonetheless. They often also used their clout to demand increased rights for Jews and sometimes even more parliamentry democracy, which they thought stabilized investments. Perhaps the best part of the book is showing the Rothschild's participation in the tangled webs of international diplomacy at the time, where ideologies were attached to regimes and countries like in few later periods. Liberals tended to support French and Belgian claims in any circumstances, while reactionaries supported Austria and Prussia, and domestic politics often involved playing off different nations as much as different policies. On the whole, the Rothschild worked across these ideological lines, but they turned more Whig and liberal as time went on.

Of course Ferguson demolishes many of the myths that have surrounded the Rothschilds since their ascent, much of which emerged from scurrilous anti-Semitic tracts (for instance, Nathan Rothschild didn't make his fortune buying bonds when he heard first the information about Waterloo, in fact, he had large contracts out to supply the army that peace, at least at this point, threatened to cancel). Still, Ferguson wonderfully explains how the family's Jewish identify helped them succeed and at the same time kept them out of the top realms of power. Still, their desire for a removal from the Christian world often lead to a stunning amount of inbreeding in the third and later generations of the family that one cannot help but be baffled at.

The main problem with the book is that it tries to cover too much, too fast, throwing reams of facts and anecdotes at the reader with little context and less development of character. Still, this research, bolstered by some of the first readings of the Rothschild "Judendeutch" correspondence, is an unparalleled look at some of the most important people in financial and world history.

[Marks54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first volume of Ferguson's two volume history of the Rothschild family. For some reason, I did not post this when I posted an entry for the second volume. I loved the book, for reasons I mentioned for volume 2. I have read several of his books and for me, this two volume set is the best and well worth the effort to read.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested to learn about the beginnings and financial emergence of the Rothschilds--The Red Shield dynasty. I wasn't so interested in the day-to-day trifles; there was too much. I went on to other books to learn more about the workings of finance and the European banking dynasties. Niall Ferguson is an expert on economy, and I have learned a lot from him in the past.

[Nick Harriss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating review on the history of the Rothschild family. Rather slow in places, especially in the middle, but a worthwhile read. It still doesn't quite answer how the family managed to accumulate so much capital so quickly in the first 20 years of the 19th century, but authoritative and lacking in the conspiracy theories often surrounding the family.

[Chris Davidge · Rating 3 out of 5]

70% of the book was awesome, but it dragged on at the end and I was definitely excited to have it finished. Overall, I would recommend this book if you've ever wondered about the empire built by the Rothschild's and the barriers that they overcame.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew the Rothschild's had such an impact on the modern era? Niall Ferguson is perhaps the best historical author going.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the best book of Niall Ferguson who much prefers giving us his opinion to doing real research. The House of Rothschild is a fascinating study of a brilliant family that made a great contribution to history and the arts.

Ferguson gives us a fascinating view of the Rothschilds as they rise to riches and come to hold power. The Rothschilds used their influence to discourage war and to promote peace. As a consequence the pro-war parties in several countries launched propaganda campaigns about the undue influence of Jewish bankers in European politics. Niall Ferguson argues quite rightly that we would all be better off if Jewish Bankers did in fact control our politics as war costs lives, destroys property and creates poverty. Jewish Bankers in contrast want people to live long, amass property and become rich.

Ferguson explains that the Rothschilds refused to finance wars for two reasons. The first was that the loser of the war inevitably defaulted on its loans. The second was that the winner was so weakened by the fight that it defaulted half the time. Thus in an era when governments depended on banks for financing, the opinions of the Rothschilds were of considerable importance. The Rothschilds were a key part of the system that prevented war in Europe for 100 years between Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and WWI.

Unfortunately, in the twentieth century European governments discovered income tax which allowed them to finance total wars and to ignore the wishes of the bankers. As result, the world experienced the two most destructive wars ever. Ferguson's argument is irrestible to anyone who has taken a university level course in economics or finance. I heartily recommend this book.

Ferguson also praises the Rothschilds for the intelligent and generous support that they gave to many artists, writers and poets. I believe that this aspect of the Rothschilds is generally known and so I make no further comments.

It is very sad that Ferguson stopped his history of the Rothschilds at the end of Volume I. We could have used more of his insight on the role that banking and this wonderful family played in European history. We could easily done without his opinion books and had more of his research based studies.

[David Glad · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an amazing account of how merchants could set themselves up as bankers and establish banking houses across multiple countries, overcome the barriers just about all other Jews faced at the time (including restrictions on land ownership), and how family members could be "kept in line."

The family in some sense seemed to resemble gods to their fellow Jewish people, the family also heaped scorn on those who converted to Christianity for personal (and apparently shortsighted) gain, while similarly also disowning family members who did not take up the family business and even more so if they converted to Christianity. Also of note in their early years, it sounded like they were willing to give decent shares of the business in their estates to family members who were NOT immediately sons or daughters just to keep the size enough for them to be interested.

There were other passages too, such as myths of how they would risk seizure of some of their own personal assets by invading armies to help secure a prince's, but also is interesting that they were accused of profiting handsomely from Napeleon's defeat at Waterloo when in reality they suffered losses because they had bet on Napoleon's return and ultimate defeat lasting a lot longer than it actually did. Though as banking goes, if you are unable to always be successful, make as well appear to be successful as hatred is still better than facing a bank run by depositors who think you are insolvent.

[Zach Franz · Rating 2 out of 5]

My chief reason for reading this book was the mystery surrounding the Rothschild dynasty. How could so little be known about so powerful a family? Niall Ferguson's book (just this first volume) certainly brings to light much of the available information we have on the Rothschilds. In fact, perhaps too much. I could only get halfway through this volume before throwing in the towel. I love to read about history, but Ferguson's writing style lacks the lure of a true narrative. It feels more like he's simply relating facts, not telling a story. And while the primary sources he draws from are illuminating, he simply overuses them, often backing up the same point with multiple quotations that essentially say the same thing.

[Brian Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beast for sure. Ferguson’s research and writing of this story is amazing. His knowledge of macroeconomics in the context of governments, currency, political unrest, markets and the pricing of government securities is really impressive. Without it, the story would lack the proper context the reader needed in order to better understand just how impressive the House of Rothschild was in terms of financing Europe in the 1800’s. It’s easy to see from this just how wealthy the family became. All because Jews were not allowed to participate in many of the more mainstream professions of the times. The Rothschild bank branches included Paris, London, Naples, Vienna and Frankford. The author explains how the banking operations earn profits very early on which included: (1) earning interest from lending, (2) earning profits from price fluctuations on debt instruments held, and (3) currency gains from engaging in cross border transactions between the five branches. As time goes on, more sophisticated transactions were entered into for profit. A key aspect of the profit making enterprise was the five brother’s relationships with local monarchs and ministers. This allowed them to learn valuable information that was not public. The secrete nature of this operation is impressive, particularly how they communicated during an era long before modern communications were used.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

These two books (volume 1 and 2) are way more detailed than i cared for. The gist of the Rothschild family is they made their fortune as one of the first lenders to european monarchies. When kings and princes wanted to finance their wars they turned to only a handful of private wealthy businessmen who had the funds to fill their need. The Rothschilds kept this in their family by rearing their children to learn the business and preventing those who married in from being involved. Eventually, by the 5th generation the kids were too spoiled to care about working to make money and the Rothschild family failed to innovated. Book 2 says it details the family history up to 1999, but this is misleading. It mostly goes through the 1920s and then the family must not have made headlines. Only the epilogue gives a high level overview of a short time after this into the 1990s.

[JoséMaría BlancoWhite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review in Spanish for the benefit of Spaniards

Esta es la saga de la famosa familia judía de banqueros europeos Rothschild. Es uno de los libros más apasionantes que haya leído. Un tomo grueso pero cada página está llena de datos interesantísimos, de vidas apasionantes, historias que parecen de novela de aventuras. Aquí hay biografías personales, relaciones internacionales, historia de Europa -sobre todo la Era Napoleónica es muy interesante por lo que a la familia atañe, persecuciones y miserias, drama, misterio, extravagancias, pobreza y abundancia, etc, etc. La historia hecha disfrute: un privilegio para los amante de la lectura. Un libro que en manos de un mediocre sería un patente fracaso, en manos del genial Ferguson es una obra maestra. Nada más y nada menos que todo lo que hace a la vida interesante -y apasionante, está en sus páginas.

[Amry Saja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got to admit the devil lies in the details
Ferguson unfold all he could about the Family of rothschild in thorough way
I need to read it few times to absorb the message and thrill present of the books

I am afraid I got an hello effect of Fergusson other book that I loved most like The war of the world, Civilization.

But seems like the angle of Fergusson writing on these book its not exactly as I expeceted to be. Perhaps one's must read few books of same subject to get right angle of that we aim for

Thinking of whether to continue the second volume or not ? hahahhaha

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

some of it went a bit over my head, i'm afraid. I'm not that well versed in how the global banking system works in present day, let alone during the years covered by this book so some of the economic terms and financial products discussed were a little confusing to me. It's something I'd like to come back to after giving myself a better education on global finance/economy.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ferguson before he started writing nonsense about US politics.

[Adam Meek · Rating 2 out of 5]

informative, but dry as a bone.

[Henry Blood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niall Ferguson’s The House of Rothschild: Money’s Prophets, 1798-1848, the first of a two part history of the famous banking family is an impressive feat of scholarship. The book tracks the family’s rise to wealth, transition to banking, and their dominance of government financing in the first half of the 19th century. The book's strength is its description of the intersection of finance and politics in the first half of the nineteenth century. However, Ferguson’s promise to “dutifully” attend to academic historians historiographical debates are perfunctory at best, and his citations leave something to be desired. I suspect this has more to do with demands of the publisher than of the author. The function of social history, Jewish history, or gender history is generally as an interlude to the author's main interest, the business of selling and buying of government bonds. To be fair, that business also seems to have been the main interest of the partners of the Rothschild firm. In addition, any narrative unity in the text might have been lost by elevating, for example, the struggle for the emancipation of Jews in Europe during the nineteenth century. Yet, the book might have been more interesting if such an angle was pursued. The principal focus on the business of the Rothschild acts to dispel long standing and often anti-semitic myths about how the firm came to make its money, and to emphasize that much of the House of Rothschild’s success was due to its multinational character rather than any devious dealings.

[Joshua Rief · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Niall Ferguson’s, and have greatly enjoyed many of his books. This one was a bit of a slog. Meticulously researched and painstakingly detailed, it’s a remarkable academic achievement. It just doesn’t make for very good reading. Perhaps it is intended as such, rather than as popular history, but if that is the case, it’s somewhat sad, as there’s a fascinating narrative to be had here.

I highly doubt I can bring myself to tackle the second tome. The sheer volume of arcane financial trivia (and I work in finance!) is quite literally mind-numbing, and Niall allows himself what I have always found to be a snooty habit - the quotations in untranslated French, the inherent assumption being that the reader will of course be bilingual (while I do read basic French, many of the quotes went undeciphered).

Chalking this up to an academic exercise - and if so, brilliantly well done. If there was any intention to bring forth a work of popular history, however, that goal was unrealized.

[Gilad Levin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not recommended. The story is not told in a chronological order, so it’s hard to follow and just feels like a bunch of random unrelated stories.

In addition, almost everything is repeated at least 3 times, quoting different sources for each story. When I’m reading a biography I want the writer to compare all the resources and give me one coherent version while footnoting all the rest.

[Igor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book extracts: Blinkist: The house of Rothschild
This review is really a review of the Blinkist summary of the book and, inevitably, a summary will miss detail and context. Still it does allow me to sample a much larger range of books that I’ve been able heretofore. I’ve extracted some snippets that I found interesting or useful, as follows;.
It all began with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), father of the famous Rothschild brothers. However, as a Jew in Frankfurt, Mayer Amschel didn’t have the easiest start to his career.....Jews in Frankfurt faced persistent, systematic discrimination and intensely anti-Jewish attitudes. Virtually every aspect of the lives of Frankfurt Jews was affected by this anti-Semitism. Jews were confined to a ghetto, a single narrow street called the Judengasse (Jews’ Lane),....Jews were barred from entering major public gathering places like parks, inns, coffee houses and the town’s promenades.
Mayer Amschel’s journey into banking began after he’d established himself as Frankfurt’s leading antique dealer. With the capital he accumulated through buying and selling these goods, Mayer Amschel began extending credit to his growing network of suppliers and customers. Of Mayer Amschel Rothschild’s many clients, the most important was William IX, Hereditary Prince, Landgrave and Elector (Kurfürst) of the former German state of Hesse-Kassel. According to the Rothschild myth, it was this relationship with William IX that formed the real foundation of the Rothschild fortune.....When Napoleon declared his intention to end the reign of the House of Hesse-Kassel, William had little choice but to flee....Rothschild provided only one service to William, which proved crucial to his family’s success: the management of William’s English investments.
It was the service of managing William’s English investments that helped Nathan (one of the sons) make the transition from a merchant to a London banker.....By the time Nathan established himself in London, the family’s Frankfurt bank had effectively passed from Mayer Amschel to his five sons following his death. Mayer Amschel had become seriously ill on September 16, 1812, and died only three days later. In his testament, Mayer Amschel demanded strict unity among his sons in continuing the banking business. Seldom has a father’s last testament been carried out more conscientiously–or profitably. ....Participation in the family business was passed to Mayer Amschel’s male descendants, meaning Rothschild women were effectively excluded from the core of the business.
By the 1830s, the Rothschilds had amassed about £4 million in wealth–more than ten times that of their biggest competitor, Baring Brothers & Co.
In 1814, Nathan Rothschild was officially entrusted with financing Britain’s war against France to defeat Napoleon’s troops....France, along with the “Holy Alliance” formed by Austria, Prussia and Russia, emerged from the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) in dire financial straits–and the Rothschilds were willing to help.....The diverse intergovernmental payments the Rothschilds made during this period all had one thing in common: they each produced profits in two distinct ways.
• The first way was in the form of commissions of up to eight percent.
• The second, less obvious, way involved exploiting the often rapid and significant fluctuations in exchange rates. By this point, the Rothschild brothers had established permanent bases in Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna and Naples, making it possible for them to buy a currency at a discount in one market and sell it at a profit in another.
Another critical ingredient to the Rothschilds’ success was Nathan’s emergence as the leader among the brothers. Technically, the five brothers had equal stake and power within the business, and profits were divided equally among them; but Nathan’s English office generated by far the most capital....Nathan, as his brother Salomon half-joked, was the “commanding general” of their operation. The others were merely his “marshals.”
At the turn of the nineteenth century, it was a matter of course that European politicians would accept favours from bankers. Investment tips and outright bribes would be rewarded with things like economically relevant inside information or favouritism when a loan was needed.
Specifically, the Rothschilds extended credit to influential figures in order to foster “friendships.” For example, the family made individual loans to French King Louis XVIII, Prussian diplomat Wilhelm von Humboldt, members of the English royal family and so on.
the most prominent example of such “friendship” was the Rothschilds’ relationship with Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich......Metternich rewarded these insider tips by informing Salomon about Austrian political machinations. Information about Austria’s war preparations or the collection of taxes was of great value to the Rothschilds,
Sometimes, however, a more subtle approach was needed. In these cases, the Rothschilds would give presents, such as the jewelled caskets given to the Elector of Hesse-Kassel, to those with whom they wished to forge an alliance.
Much of the myth making and hostility that the Rothschilds endured was not based on actual facts, but rather on simple economic rivalry coupled with anti-Jewish sentiment.
“From the very earliest days, the Rothschilds appreciated the importance of proximity to politicians . . . and politicians soon came to realize the importance of proximity to the Rothschilds . . .”...The Rothschilds’ wealth and influence afforded them a privileged social status–this despite belonging to a class that had been historically disadvantaged, even in the Rothschilds’ time.
The Rothschild brothers urged their friends in politics to advocate for the Jewish cause.
Though the Rothschilds didn’t reserve their political action for wealthy Jews alone, the relationship between the Rothschilds and the larger, poorer Jewish community has long been the subject of myths and the butt of jokes. At least one cartoonist at the time suggested that, having made their fortune, the Rothschilds were indifferent to the plight of their “poorer co-religionists.”....But the brothers were indeed involved in philanthropy. For example, in 1825 they donated money to build a new hospital.
The Rothschilds’ success lay in their unique communications network and the cooperation between the five houses....There are at least two factors that we can identify as critical to their incredible prosperity. The first is the development of the brothers’ communications network......Nathan, for example, would pay premiums to the captains of postal ships for express delivery....When discretion was of the essence, the Rothschilds had no choice but to employ trusted private couriers. Until the mid-1830s, when the railway and the telegraph ushered in a new era of communications, the Rothschild courier service was better than any other existing form of communication.....But the principal reason for the Rothschilds’ success lay in the cooperation between the five Rothschild houses.
When taken as a whole, the five Rothschild houses in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna and Naples comprised the largest bank in the world. This multinational partnership
allowed the Rothschilds to disperse their financial influence throughout five of Europe’s major financial centers.....To reinforce their sense of collective identity, the brothers agreed that each house would inform the others of the transactions it carried out on a weekly basis.
In June 1836,
Nathan Rothschild was dying. His death shifted the constellation of power in the Rothschild family......But who would become the new leader of the Rothschild family business? Usually, people assume that Nathan's role was filled by the youngest of the five brothers, James.
But it’s far from clear that James ever wielded power equal to Nathan’s. In reality, the relatively equal distribution of power among the five houses meant that no single brother was really in a position to give marching orders to the others, as Nathan had once done.
Nathan Rothschild’s death also had much broader consequences
For the Rothschilds, an important source of enjoyment–and prestige–was patronage of the arts. .....It was the art created in seventeenth-century Holland that the family was most drawn to. In 1840, for example, James Rothschild purchased works by Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.....Dutch painters were mostly secular. Interestingly, however, the Rothschilds also acquired works displaying explicitly Christian iconography.
With very few exceptions, the only contemporary paintings the family owned were the portraits of themselves that they'd commissioned.
The Rothschilds likewise patronized some of the premier composers and performers of the nineteenth century. The most obvious reason for this is that good music was an absolute necessity for a successful evening ball.
Important writers of the time also received the Rothschilds’ favor. Two of the best-documented cases were Heinrich Heine and Honoré Balzac, both of whom were closely associated with James Rothschild in the 1830s and ‘40s.
The Rothschilds’ investments in railways made them targets for the social revolutions of 1848......The mid-1830s marked a shift in the Rothschilds’ financial focus toward industrial finance. In particular, the Rothschilds invested heavily in the emerging business of railway construction......Because the Rothschilds were such a dominant force in railway development, a growing number of journalists began expressing hostility toward what they regarded as a corrupt, private monopoly......Soon, the public prominence that the Rothschilds had won with their railways made them targets for the social revolutions of 1848, which resulted in a series of political and social upheavals throughout Europe.
The Rothschilds, a wealthy and influential family that gained public prominence through their endeavours in the railway system, came to personify this inequality.
Financially, the Rothschilds faced serious losses due to the wealth they held in the form of government securities. Government securities were falling dramatically in value.
The Rothschilds suffered heavy losses in 1848, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. But because the revolution never reached Britain, the London house was able to bail out the other four, thus ensuring the survival of the Rothschild family legacy.
The key message in this book: The Rothschild family ranked among the richest and most influential families in nineteenth-century Europe. Exceptional in their international scope and the way they conducted their financial business, the meteoric rise of the Rothschild family has long been the subject of various myths, all of which seldom reflect the truth.
Normally, I make comments upon individual points but even the summary seems to hang together remarkably well so I will refrain. I just would have liked a bit more information about how they managed to hang together as a family, What was the magic ingredient when similar wealthy families fragment within a generation or two? The Rothschild name is still synonymous with wealth. Four stars from me.

[Chayong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blinkist. Interesting. Looking for volume 2.