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Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power
A sweeping history of the legendary private investment firm Brown Brothers Harriman, exploring its central role in the story of American wealth and its rise to global power
Conspiracy theories have always swirled around Brown Brothers Harriman, and not without reason. Throughout the nineteenth century, when America was convulsed by a devastating financial panic essentially every twenty years, Brown Brothers quietly went from strength to strength, propping up the U.S. financial system at crucial moments and catalyzing successive booms, from the cotton trade and the steamship to the railroad, while largely managing to avoid the unwelcome attention that plagued some of its competitors. By the turn of the twentieth century, Brown Brothers was unquestionably at the heart of what was meant by an American Establishment. As America's reach extended beyond its shores, Brown Brothers worked hand in glove with the State Department, notably in Nicaragua in the early twentieth century, where the firm essentially took over the country's economy. To the Brown family, the virtue of their dealings was a given; their form of muscular Protestantism, forged on the playing fields of Groton and Yale, was the acme of civilization, and it was their duty to import that civilization to the world. When, during the Great Depression, Brown Brothers ensured their strength by merging with Averell Harriman's investment bank to form Brown Brothers Harriman, the die was cast for the role the firm would play on the global stage during World War II and thereafter, as its partners served at the highest levels of government to shape the international system that defines the world to this day.
In Inside Money , acclaimed historian, commentator, and former financial executive Zachary Karabell offers the first full and frank look inside this institution against the backdrop of American history. Blessed with complete access to the company's archives, as well as a thrilling understanding of the larger forces at play, Karabell has created an X-ray of American power--financial, political, cultural--as it has evolved from the early 1800s to the present. Today, unlike many of its competitors, Brown Brothers Harriman remains a private partnership and a beacon of sustainable capitalism, having forgone the heady speculative upsides of the past thirty years but also having avoided any role in the devastating downsides. The firm is no longer in the command capsule of the American economy, but, arguably, that is to its credit. If its partners cleaved to any one adage over the generations, it is that a relentless pursuit of more can destroy more than it creates.
Conspiracy theories have always swirled around Brown Brothers Harriman, and not without reason. Throughout the nineteenth century, when America was convulsed by a devastating financial panic essentially every twenty years, Brown Brothers quietly went from strength to strength, propping up the U.S. financial system at crucial moments and catalyzing successive booms, from the cotton trade and the steamship to the railroad, while largely managing to avoid the unwelcome attention that plagued some of its competitors. By the turn of the twentieth century, Brown Brothers was unquestionably at the heart of what was meant by an American Establishment. As America's reach extended beyond its shores, Brown Brothers worked hand in glove with the State Department, notably in Nicaragua in the early twentieth century, where the firm essentially took over the country's economy. To the Brown family, the virtue of their dealings was a given; their form of muscular Protestantism, forged on the playing fields of Groton and Yale, was the acme of civilization, and it was their duty to import that civilization to the world. When, during the Great Depression, Brown Brothers ensured their strength by merging with Averell Harriman's investment bank to form Brown Brothers Harriman, the die was cast for the role the firm would play on the global stage during World War II and thereafter, as its partners served at the highest levels of government to shape the international system that defines the world to this day.
In Inside Money , acclaimed historian, commentator, and former financial executive Zachary Karabell offers the first full and frank look inside this institution against the backdrop of American history. Blessed with complete access to the company's archives, as well as a thrilling understanding of the larger forces at play, Karabell has created an X-ray of American power--financial, political, cultural--as it has evolved from the early 1800s to the present. Today, unlike many of its competitors, Brown Brothers Harriman remains a private partnership and a beacon of sustainable capitalism, having forgone the heady speculative upsides of the past thirty years but also having avoided any role in the devastating downsides. The firm is no longer in the command capsule of the American economy, but, arguably, that is to its credit. If its partners cleaved to any one adage over the generations, it is that a relentless pursuit of more can destroy more than it creates.
448 pages, Hardcover
Published May 18, 2021
144 people are currently reading
1776 people want to read
About the author
Zachary Karabell
25 books38 followersZachary Karabell is a New York-born author, columnist and investor who previously served as Head of Global Strategies at Envestnet, a publicly traded financial services firm. He currently hosts the podcast “What Could Go Right?” and analyzes economic and political trends as president of River Twice Research.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
June 14, 2023
I started this book with the assumption that it would be the biography of a bank. My hope was that at a minimum, it would be a family chronicle; if I hit the jackpot, it would be a piercing look into the lives of men—their inner drive, their ambition, their struggles, their achievements—as they stewarded the family jewel through successive generations. It began that way. I was pleased.
But by the fourth or fifth chapter a new picture was emerging. The Brown Brothers were becoming secondary actors in Karabell’s drama. He was surveying huge swaths of American history and merely using Brown Brothers Harriman as a common thread to stitch the story together. My interest began to fade. There was no depth. One cannot possibly cover epochs like the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Great Depression, or the Cold War in a handful of pages each.
By the time I finished, I was left with an empty feeling. Totally unsatisfied.
And then I flipped to the Acknowledgements.
“When I mentioned to my editor and onetime agent, Scott Moyers, that I wanted to find a way to narrate the big story of the United States, money and the rise to global power, he immediately suggested I take a look at Brown Brothers. It proved to be the perfect idea, and this book is the result.”
The exact thing I didn’t like about the book is precisely what Karabell intended! I couldn’t believe it. His primary premise was to sweep through American history; the bank was a convenient mechanism to serve his purpose.
So I suppose I cannot fault him: he set out to achieve something and achieved it. By that measure it was a success. It just wasn’t what I was looking for, which is why I'm only giving it 3 stars. But the writing is good enough to hold your attention and he does indeed surface some interesting stories. If you’re looking for a light, fast-paced pop history, then you’ve come to the right place. Grab Karabell and enjoy.
But by the fourth or fifth chapter a new picture was emerging. The Brown Brothers were becoming secondary actors in Karabell’s drama. He was surveying huge swaths of American history and merely using Brown Brothers Harriman as a common thread to stitch the story together. My interest began to fade. There was no depth. One cannot possibly cover epochs like the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Great Depression, or the Cold War in a handful of pages each.
By the time I finished, I was left with an empty feeling. Totally unsatisfied.
And then I flipped to the Acknowledgements.
“When I mentioned to my editor and onetime agent, Scott Moyers, that I wanted to find a way to narrate the big story of the United States, money and the rise to global power, he immediately suggested I take a look at Brown Brothers. It proved to be the perfect idea, and this book is the result.”
The exact thing I didn’t like about the book is precisely what Karabell intended! I couldn’t believe it. His primary premise was to sweep through American history; the bank was a convenient mechanism to serve his purpose.
So I suppose I cannot fault him: he set out to achieve something and achieved it. By that measure it was a success. It just wasn’t what I was looking for, which is why I'm only giving it 3 stars. But the writing is good enough to hold your attention and he does indeed surface some interesting stories. If you’re looking for a light, fast-paced pop history, then you’ve come to the right place. Grab Karabell and enjoy.
May 28, 2021
As an American History book this one exceeds most. It is an intimate and expansive view of the financing of America, a vital part of existence, money. Through the history of a small but highly influential private bank, Mr. Karabell reveals the intricacies, relationships and connections which were and remain essential to any country or society. He has a balanced approach to his judgments, often attributing competing ideas without owning any of them. That is a good approach for a history author. Enough is enough is probably the overall theme for any "lesson". The detailed history and impact of money throughout it was the most interesting and important part of the book. The author made what most historians either did not understand or found to mundane to cover, into a vital lesson for which the study of history is so important.
This is a very good book, highly recommended to anyone who cares at all.
This is a very good book, highly recommended to anyone who cares at all.
June 11, 2022
Isn’t the fact that I actually survived the entirety of a book with this title endorsement enough?
To put it another way: The author managed to keep this interesting enough for someone with no understanding of how banking or investment or even money actually works.
To put it another way: The author managed to keep this interesting enough for someone with no understanding of how banking or investment or even money actually works.
June 13, 2021
Wall Street both fascinates and repulses we Americans. The glowing power and the staggering flows of money, its ability to shape or destroy not only industry but entire countries. As a result – and depending on economic and social conditions – we have had a long episodic relationship with our financial titans, at times adulating them, at times seeing them as the fonts of all corruption and needing to be broken apart and controlled like dangerous animals.
We are vividly reminded of this odd and uneven relationship in Zachary Karabell’s richly absorbing and truly fascinating new book, “Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power . Using the long, storied history of Brown Brothers Harriman and its two antecedent firms, Brown Brothers and H.E. Harriman, we give both a grand and at times poignant tour of American finance and the massive role it has played in building our nation.
Moreover, as a critical sub-theme of his book, we are shown that not all Wall Street investment houses of uncontrolled greed and fiscal imprudence. Case in point: Brown Brothers Harriman. Of the two firms, Brown Brothers is the oldest, tracing its history back to late 1700’s Ireland where we find Alexander Brown launching a successful business as a linen merchant. But Ireland was a troubled place then and, as a result of the Irish Rebellion of 1789, Brown was forced to flee the Emerald Island for Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and his youngest son (the three elder ones being in schools in England) to re-launch his firm. Baltimore was at that time the major trade port in the US, as southern states sent their goods north as well as Europe while in return being voracious consumers of fine Irish linen.
Brown was soon joined by other sons and within a few years had dispatched them to set up outposts in Philadelphia, New York, and Liverpool, England. As the years rolled by, Brown Brothers became a major – if not a dominant - financial force in the young United States and England, expanding beyond linen to corporate finance including sponsoring the first initial public offering in the US in 1808.
Yet – and here is that persistent sub-theme of the book - Alexander Brown did not let the business grow too fast. Prudence was the order of the day, every day for Alexander Brown. He demanded this of his sons in numerous letters preaching careful analysis of any new business proposition. Greed and ostentatious living were the greatest sin a Brown could commit, and, in its place, he demanded a strong sense of service to community and nation.
As Karabell carefully documents, it seems Brown Brothers declined more opportunities than embraced which resulted in the firm not only surviving but thriving through numerous economic and financial crisis’ in the first half of the 1800s. These crises created the Progressive firebrands of the day, the biggest and most powerful being President Andrew Jackson who denounced the big financial firms as being a relic of “nobility systems that enabled a few and rich intelligent men to live upon the labor of many.”
It is not until the latter half of the 1800’s that we meet E.H. Harriman. Born in 1848 the son of an Episcopal pastor, Harriman was a slight, slender man who – to the horror of his father - abandoned schooling at the age of 14 to work as a runner for a New York brokerage. He was a keen learner and showed a genius for finance which, at the age of 34, he unleashed by making his first big acquisition: The Illinois Central Railroad.
America was rapidly expanding West and the “iron horse” was the greatest and fastest way to make that expansion happen. Harriman’s acquisition instantly become a national railroad baron. (Interestingly and conversely, Brown Brothers took a hard pass on investing in railroads, believing it too speculative and not prudent).
Despite that slight physique, Harriman proved to be an extraordinarily steely businessman. The author offers a fantastic look into how Harriman soon took on legendary financiers/railroad barons J.P. Morgan and Jacob Schiff (head of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., the forerunner of Lehman Brothers), beating them at their own game and bending them to his vision. E.H. Harriman was now a major financial power, and it was not long before the two firms of Brown Brothers and H.E. Harriman were working in tandem on bond deals not only in the US but in Latin America and across Europe.
But Harriman, like Alexander Brown, was a man also reliant on prudence to build out his business. Despite plunging into the go-go, boom-or-bust world of railroads at the time, it was his prudent, careful management of business that made him a success, and which ultimately won him the support of Morgan and Schiff. And, like Alexander Brown Harriman produced and carefully cultivated and trained heirs to join him at the firm and eventually succeed him: Averell and Roland. Averell would, of course, go on to be Governor of New York and something of a legendary diplomat. He was the big idea guy, less so the day-to-day manager type. That was Roland’s forte. A prudent (there is that word again) and a strong manager who helped assemble a team of brilliant bankers who shared a nose for smart, careful yet financially rewarding deals. The rise of Averell and Roland as leaders of H.E. Harriman in the 1920’s brought the most natural alignment with the men leading Brown Brothers. The bond was school, specifically Yale University where they all seemed to be members of the elite Skull & Bones Society or other elite societies and where their friendships for life were bonded and marriages even made them relatives (Alex. Brown in Baltimore along with the other affiliate set up in Liverpool nearly a century before, Brown Shipley, had effectively split off decades before due to US tax law changes). It is here that Karabell demystifies – and also confirms – the clubby world of early 20th century Wall Street. Indeed, the belief in the US at that time that “…a small clique of elites pull[ed] the strings…usually centered on coastal elites that the Browns and Harriman’s epitomized” was strongly held by much of the country. In 1930, that opinion only grew as the boys from Yale were not only financing the biggest companies in America, quietly making big fees despite the stock market crash and resulting Great Depression but were now going to merge. And where and how was the merger arranged? On a private train going from New York to New Haven, Connecticut to attend the Yale football homecoming game. Of course. Over fine scotch and good cigars, they worked out the details, smoothly bringing together the great financial houses into one. The result would have a much bigger impact on US and world history: The merger elevated a young Prescott Bush – father and grandfather to future US Presidents – as leader of the combined firms. But while other large firms took the brunt of the criticism of the Jackson’s and Steffens and other critics of big finance, Brown Brothers and H.E. Harriman for the most part escaped the negative spotlight. Always prudent, always keeping their heads down, never engulfed in scandal. Always doing the right thing carefully. The firm’s history and culture speak for itself. Yet, in today’s modern financial world, Brown Brothers Harriman stands as a stark anomaly to other firms. Too many on Wall Street, it is somehow seen as shrinking, fading business. But this is factually incorrect. It is still run as a partnership, having eschewed the big money the other large firms grabbed via listing themselves on the stock market. It is indeed a successful firm, and it is successful in the businesses it has chosen to pursue. Moreover, unlike virtually every other large investment bank and brokerage, Brown Brothers Harriman is never in the news, never engulfed in intense regulatory scandals that has hit every big-name financial house over the course of the last 30 years. Karabell argues that over the years we seem to have quietly changed the definition of capitalism and what constitutes success in financial markets. “In what universe does surviving and thriving for over the course of more than two hundred years constitute failure? In what healthy system does never becoming too big to fail get judged negatively? Why is sustaining a culture that shuns the spotlight and remains both viable and modest not valued, while becoming a behemoth is celebrated and reviled? Why is Michael Milken a parable, while Brown Brothers a faint echo?... Over the centuries, they [Brown Brothers Harriman] made considerable money, and much of that money made America. For two hundred years, the firm stuck to its last.” Karabell is spot on in his challenge and it one all of today’s titans of Wall Street should pause to consider as we enter a rapidly changing and increasingly turbulent world.
We are vividly reminded of this odd and uneven relationship in Zachary Karabell’s richly absorbing and truly fascinating new book, “Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power . Using the long, storied history of Brown Brothers Harriman and its two antecedent firms, Brown Brothers and H.E. Harriman, we give both a grand and at times poignant tour of American finance and the massive role it has played in building our nation.
Moreover, as a critical sub-theme of his book, we are shown that not all Wall Street investment houses of uncontrolled greed and fiscal imprudence. Case in point: Brown Brothers Harriman. Of the two firms, Brown Brothers is the oldest, tracing its history back to late 1700’s Ireland where we find Alexander Brown launching a successful business as a linen merchant. But Ireland was a troubled place then and, as a result of the Irish Rebellion of 1789, Brown was forced to flee the Emerald Island for Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and his youngest son (the three elder ones being in schools in England) to re-launch his firm. Baltimore was at that time the major trade port in the US, as southern states sent their goods north as well as Europe while in return being voracious consumers of fine Irish linen.
Brown was soon joined by other sons and within a few years had dispatched them to set up outposts in Philadelphia, New York, and Liverpool, England. As the years rolled by, Brown Brothers became a major – if not a dominant - financial force in the young United States and England, expanding beyond linen to corporate finance including sponsoring the first initial public offering in the US in 1808.
Yet – and here is that persistent sub-theme of the book - Alexander Brown did not let the business grow too fast. Prudence was the order of the day, every day for Alexander Brown. He demanded this of his sons in numerous letters preaching careful analysis of any new business proposition. Greed and ostentatious living were the greatest sin a Brown could commit, and, in its place, he demanded a strong sense of service to community and nation.
As Karabell carefully documents, it seems Brown Brothers declined more opportunities than embraced which resulted in the firm not only surviving but thriving through numerous economic and financial crisis’ in the first half of the 1800s. These crises created the Progressive firebrands of the day, the biggest and most powerful being President Andrew Jackson who denounced the big financial firms as being a relic of “nobility systems that enabled a few and rich intelligent men to live upon the labor of many.”
It is not until the latter half of the 1800’s that we meet E.H. Harriman. Born in 1848 the son of an Episcopal pastor, Harriman was a slight, slender man who – to the horror of his father - abandoned schooling at the age of 14 to work as a runner for a New York brokerage. He was a keen learner and showed a genius for finance which, at the age of 34, he unleashed by making his first big acquisition: The Illinois Central Railroad.
America was rapidly expanding West and the “iron horse” was the greatest and fastest way to make that expansion happen. Harriman’s acquisition instantly become a national railroad baron. (Interestingly and conversely, Brown Brothers took a hard pass on investing in railroads, believing it too speculative and not prudent).
Despite that slight physique, Harriman proved to be an extraordinarily steely businessman. The author offers a fantastic look into how Harriman soon took on legendary financiers/railroad barons J.P. Morgan and Jacob Schiff (head of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., the forerunner of Lehman Brothers), beating them at their own game and bending them to his vision. E.H. Harriman was now a major financial power, and it was not long before the two firms of Brown Brothers and H.E. Harriman were working in tandem on bond deals not only in the US but in Latin America and across Europe.
But Harriman, like Alexander Brown, was a man also reliant on prudence to build out his business. Despite plunging into the go-go, boom-or-bust world of railroads at the time, it was his prudent, careful management of business that made him a success, and which ultimately won him the support of Morgan and Schiff. And, like Alexander Brown Harriman produced and carefully cultivated and trained heirs to join him at the firm and eventually succeed him: Averell and Roland. Averell would, of course, go on to be Governor of New York and something of a legendary diplomat. He was the big idea guy, less so the day-to-day manager type. That was Roland’s forte. A prudent (there is that word again) and a strong manager who helped assemble a team of brilliant bankers who shared a nose for smart, careful yet financially rewarding deals. The rise of Averell and Roland as leaders of H.E. Harriman in the 1920’s brought the most natural alignment with the men leading Brown Brothers. The bond was school, specifically Yale University where they all seemed to be members of the elite Skull & Bones Society or other elite societies and where their friendships for life were bonded and marriages even made them relatives (Alex. Brown in Baltimore along with the other affiliate set up in Liverpool nearly a century before, Brown Shipley, had effectively split off decades before due to US tax law changes). It is here that Karabell demystifies – and also confirms – the clubby world of early 20th century Wall Street. Indeed, the belief in the US at that time that “…a small clique of elites pull[ed] the strings…usually centered on coastal elites that the Browns and Harriman’s epitomized” was strongly held by much of the country. In 1930, that opinion only grew as the boys from Yale were not only financing the biggest companies in America, quietly making big fees despite the stock market crash and resulting Great Depression but were now going to merge. And where and how was the merger arranged? On a private train going from New York to New Haven, Connecticut to attend the Yale football homecoming game. Of course. Over fine scotch and good cigars, they worked out the details, smoothly bringing together the great financial houses into one. The result would have a much bigger impact on US and world history: The merger elevated a young Prescott Bush – father and grandfather to future US Presidents – as leader of the combined firms. But while other large firms took the brunt of the criticism of the Jackson’s and Steffens and other critics of big finance, Brown Brothers and H.E. Harriman for the most part escaped the negative spotlight. Always prudent, always keeping their heads down, never engulfed in scandal. Always doing the right thing carefully. The firm’s history and culture speak for itself. Yet, in today’s modern financial world, Brown Brothers Harriman stands as a stark anomaly to other firms. Too many on Wall Street, it is somehow seen as shrinking, fading business. But this is factually incorrect. It is still run as a partnership, having eschewed the big money the other large firms grabbed via listing themselves on the stock market. It is indeed a successful firm, and it is successful in the businesses it has chosen to pursue. Moreover, unlike virtually every other large investment bank and brokerage, Brown Brothers Harriman is never in the news, never engulfed in intense regulatory scandals that has hit every big-name financial house over the course of the last 30 years. Karabell argues that over the years we seem to have quietly changed the definition of capitalism and what constitutes success in financial markets. “In what universe does surviving and thriving for over the course of more than two hundred years constitute failure? In what healthy system does never becoming too big to fail get judged negatively? Why is sustaining a culture that shuns the spotlight and remains both viable and modest not valued, while becoming a behemoth is celebrated and reviled? Why is Michael Milken a parable, while Brown Brothers a faint echo?... Over the centuries, they [Brown Brothers Harriman] made considerable money, and much of that money made America. For two hundred years, the firm stuck to its last.” Karabell is spot on in his challenge and it one all of today’s titans of Wall Street should pause to consider as we enter a rapidly changing and increasingly turbulent world.
August 10, 2021
This a surprising a remarkable tale of a 200 year old Wall Street partnership that has been intertwined with America’s history. The 1800’s were marked by booms and busts in 1819 , 1837, 1857, 1873 and 1893 plus a Civil War and a major financial panics in 1907 and 1929. How did a family business survived these turbulent times is a testament to their risk management and the philosophy and discipline that the founder Alexander Brown instilled in his family.
The second part of the book , the 1900’s describes how the partners had a major impact in many government administrations , in proximity to power but above all formulating long lasting economic and foreign policy.
A book that started as an Oral History of an old Wall Street partnership turned out to be an interesting tale about the economic history of the country.
The second part of the book , the 1900’s describes how the partners had a major impact in many government administrations , in proximity to power but above all formulating long lasting economic and foreign policy.
A book that started as an Oral History of an old Wall Street partnership turned out to be an interesting tale about the economic history of the country.
August 18, 2021
Much of this book is sloppy and tedious. Almost half is just a canned history of America since 1800, describing how we built the railroads, expanded West, fought the Civil War, etc. A little such background is necessary, but the sheer bulk of it in this book makes it approach a junior high history textbook with a strange special focus on Brown Brothers and Harriman. Many chapter have barely over a dozen citations, almost all of which are general history books with just one or two letters scattered also mentioned. There are some basic errors of fact throughout.
All of this is a shame because Brown Brothers Harriman, although little thought of today, has included some of the most famous people, and precipitated some of the most important events, in American history. After the Scotch-Irish Alexander Brown came to Baltimore as a linen merchant in 1800, and especially after his four sons scattered across the Atlantic, including James Brown in New York, William Brown in Liverpool, George in Baltimore, and John Brown in Philadelphia (from where he formed the separate "Brown Brothers & Co." in 1817, the supposed birthday of the concern), they had a piece in many of the great moments of their nation. In 1828 they helped organize the B&O railroad to salvage Baltimore's place in the urban hierarchy, and in the process birthed the American railroad industry. In 1837 William Brown's soon-to-be partner John Shipley went to the Bank of England to get a special loan for the firm in the panic of that year, understanding that Brown Brothers was already too-big-to-fail. He thus saved the organization and also helped stopped the panic. In 1848 James Brown funded the Collins Line, a US subsidized interoceanic behemoth, whose hopes sank with the USS Arctic in 1854, which killed many of that era's leading lights and many of James's family. Later John Crosby Brown chaired the Committee of Seventy to push Boss Tweed out of New York, and then cement the position of the Union Theological Seminary in New York with his donations. In 1912 the firm worked with Secretary of State Philander Knox to fund a new Nicaraguan government put in place with the help of US troops. The Nation magazine later called it the "Republic of Brown Brothers."
In 1930 the firm merged with Harriman & Co., the investment bank created by the two sons of railroad mogul E.H. Harriman: Averell, rambunctious and frenetic and friendly, and Roland, business-minded and thorough. Averell would become a globe-trotter, Secretary of Commerce and then head of the Marshall Plan in Truman's administration, later head of East Asian affairs under President Kennedy. Robert Lovett, who was the son of top Harriman employee "Judge" Lovett, and who married James Brown's daughter in 1919, thus uniting the firms avante le letter, led aircraft production in World War II, was Secretary of Defense in the Korean War, and became a regular consultant for the liberal administrations of the sixties. One could go on like this with all the modern partners who shaped modern life.
So this bank and its partners had a massive impact on history, one often missed in stories of more storied names like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan. I just wish the book had been more succinct and careful.
All of this is a shame because Brown Brothers Harriman, although little thought of today, has included some of the most famous people, and precipitated some of the most important events, in American history. After the Scotch-Irish Alexander Brown came to Baltimore as a linen merchant in 1800, and especially after his four sons scattered across the Atlantic, including James Brown in New York, William Brown in Liverpool, George in Baltimore, and John Brown in Philadelphia (from where he formed the separate "Brown Brothers & Co." in 1817, the supposed birthday of the concern), they had a piece in many of the great moments of their nation. In 1828 they helped organize the B&O railroad to salvage Baltimore's place in the urban hierarchy, and in the process birthed the American railroad industry. In 1837 William Brown's soon-to-be partner John Shipley went to the Bank of England to get a special loan for the firm in the panic of that year, understanding that Brown Brothers was already too-big-to-fail. He thus saved the organization and also helped stopped the panic. In 1848 James Brown funded the Collins Line, a US subsidized interoceanic behemoth, whose hopes sank with the USS Arctic in 1854, which killed many of that era's leading lights and many of James's family. Later John Crosby Brown chaired the Committee of Seventy to push Boss Tweed out of New York, and then cement the position of the Union Theological Seminary in New York with his donations. In 1912 the firm worked with Secretary of State Philander Knox to fund a new Nicaraguan government put in place with the help of US troops. The Nation magazine later called it the "Republic of Brown Brothers."
In 1930 the firm merged with Harriman & Co., the investment bank created by the two sons of railroad mogul E.H. Harriman: Averell, rambunctious and frenetic and friendly, and Roland, business-minded and thorough. Averell would become a globe-trotter, Secretary of Commerce and then head of the Marshall Plan in Truman's administration, later head of East Asian affairs under President Kennedy. Robert Lovett, who was the son of top Harriman employee "Judge" Lovett, and who married James Brown's daughter in 1919, thus uniting the firms avante le letter, led aircraft production in World War II, was Secretary of Defense in the Korean War, and became a regular consultant for the liberal administrations of the sixties. One could go on like this with all the modern partners who shaped modern life.
So this bank and its partners had a massive impact on history, one often missed in stories of more storied names like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan. I just wish the book had been more succinct and careful.
October 11, 2021
The History of the United States as Seen Through the Eyes of the Bankers
Please visit I. David's blog at:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Over the last 200 years innumerable bankers have poured money into America’s ever growing capitalist economy. Their mythic and controversial stories include the creation of enormous industries and/or the disappearance of huge fortunes. In Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power, author Zachary Karabell, tells the story of Brown Brothers Harriman, possibly the least exciting and most conservative firm ever to grace Wall Street. But while the firm might be a bit boring Karabell’s telling of its story is not.
The story of the firm is fairly straightforward. It starts with the arrival in Baltimore of Alexander Brown, a Belfast linen merchant, in 1800. Alexander Brown, together with his four sons, expanded the firm’s business into cotton, coffee, iron and sugar. But, eventually, the firm phased out of physical commodity trading and phased into financing trading by others. Alexander always stressed to his sons that the firm should value risk management over profits. And it was that conservative ethos that always pervaded the firm’s business practices.
Because of its conservative nature the firm remained quite small and, until relatively recently, was managed by direct descendants of Alexander Brown. It was only in the 1930s, when needing an infusion of capital, that the firm merged with the firm created by railroad magnate, E.H. Harriman. And while the firm is no longer managed by heirs of Alexander Brown, Karabell explains how the Brown’s original ethos is carried on in current times by like minded members of the “establishment” who have established close, almost familial, ties during their years at places like Groton and Yale.
Had this book been solely about Brown Brothers Harriman it might have been no longer than 100 or 200 pages. In fact, there may have been no real reason to write a book about this highly conservative and non-controversial firm.
However, this book is about far more than Brown Brothers Harriman. Its more than 400 pages traces the history of the United States, as seen through the eyes of the financial community. Of particular interest in the financial community’s participation in the development of public policy. Karabell makes it clear that, while at one time, members of the financial community, tried to manage their business while staying above the political fray in Washington, D.C. they now are fully entrenched in the political process drifting seamlessly between their firms on Wall Street and their appointments in government in Washington, D.C.
And although Karabell usually takes a straightforward, almost professorial position in the book, he does not shy away from revealing his view of Brown Brothers and the rest of the financial community. For example, he makes it very clear that, while members of the Brown family may have believed that slavery was morally wrong, they saw nothing wrong with profiting from the trade in cotton, which was facilitated by slavery on the cotton plantations.
Those who are considering this book may be seeking some inside details about one of the longest surviving firms on Wall Street. And towards that end the book reveals how Brown Brothers Harriman used its ethos of conservatism and risk management to survive the country’s numerous financial crises. However, because of the far-reaching extent of this book the reader will also gain a better understanding of the interconnection between the history of the financial community and the history of the nation. I give this book 4 stars and recommend it for anyone interested in the history of banking and finance in the United States.
Please visit I. David's blog at:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Over the last 200 years innumerable bankers have poured money into America’s ever growing capitalist economy. Their mythic and controversial stories include the creation of enormous industries and/or the disappearance of huge fortunes. In Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power, author Zachary Karabell, tells the story of Brown Brothers Harriman, possibly the least exciting and most conservative firm ever to grace Wall Street. But while the firm might be a bit boring Karabell’s telling of its story is not.
The story of the firm is fairly straightforward. It starts with the arrival in Baltimore of Alexander Brown, a Belfast linen merchant, in 1800. Alexander Brown, together with his four sons, expanded the firm’s business into cotton, coffee, iron and sugar. But, eventually, the firm phased out of physical commodity trading and phased into financing trading by others. Alexander always stressed to his sons that the firm should value risk management over profits. And it was that conservative ethos that always pervaded the firm’s business practices.
Because of its conservative nature the firm remained quite small and, until relatively recently, was managed by direct descendants of Alexander Brown. It was only in the 1930s, when needing an infusion of capital, that the firm merged with the firm created by railroad magnate, E.H. Harriman. And while the firm is no longer managed by heirs of Alexander Brown, Karabell explains how the Brown’s original ethos is carried on in current times by like minded members of the “establishment” who have established close, almost familial, ties during their years at places like Groton and Yale.
Had this book been solely about Brown Brothers Harriman it might have been no longer than 100 or 200 pages. In fact, there may have been no real reason to write a book about this highly conservative and non-controversial firm.
However, this book is about far more than Brown Brothers Harriman. Its more than 400 pages traces the history of the United States, as seen through the eyes of the financial community. Of particular interest in the financial community’s participation in the development of public policy. Karabell makes it clear that, while at one time, members of the financial community, tried to manage their business while staying above the political fray in Washington, D.C. they now are fully entrenched in the political process drifting seamlessly between their firms on Wall Street and their appointments in government in Washington, D.C.
And although Karabell usually takes a straightforward, almost professorial position in the book, he does not shy away from revealing his view of Brown Brothers and the rest of the financial community. For example, he makes it very clear that, while members of the Brown family may have believed that slavery was morally wrong, they saw nothing wrong with profiting from the trade in cotton, which was facilitated by slavery on the cotton plantations.
Those who are considering this book may be seeking some inside details about one of the longest surviving firms on Wall Street. And towards that end the book reveals how Brown Brothers Harriman used its ethos of conservatism and risk management to survive the country’s numerous financial crises. However, because of the far-reaching extent of this book the reader will also gain a better understanding of the interconnection between the history of the financial community and the history of the nation. I give this book 4 stars and recommend it for anyone interested in the history of banking and finance in the United States.
January 6, 2023
Fortunes accumulated during the railroad boom
I'm personally exposed back in the day it was a partnership not a shareholder
I'm skirting peril
It's easier to use a fortune than to ever make one and to acendthe heights
Let me help you facilitate your trade
He's better than decent looking
He's an honest sinner then lying hypocrite
1050 Maggie
1027
I'm not one to assume the best
I got a plan for dominance and the money to execute it
I Diversified Beyond real estate
We share a Sensibility
I earn a decent fee but don't demand an excessive one
The most precious currency is trust
He's a capable Lieutenant undimmed by competition
What I like about real estate is you make money coming and going
This is my farewell Revenge
It depends on wins and weather
The prices of real estate began to sag you're not going to get that bull market premium
Before you start feeling a sense of dread
I took a wait and see approach
My risk spectrum is narrow
I have a general disinclination
Your blank personifies BIG
The Firm faced an extinction moment
Never want to give in or give up
Absurd gamble
I'm uncomfortable with the exposure
Wit and the gift of being amusing can be very helpful
That's true and untrue
This has shrunk to insignicance
We are all minor aristocrats
Mildly optimistic
I'm sometimes smart and usually lucky
I'm in the business of arranging loans
Many of these statements contain considerable truth
Came here for a Greener paycheck
Smooth and confident in public
She's known for his frequent laughter
Mass starvation
This is a partnership not a power rivalry
This is like a match in a dry forest
Let's live our life more then we articulate it
per·i·pa·tet·ic
/ˌperēpəˈtedik/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
1.
traveling from place to place, in particular working or based in various places for relatively short periods.
"the peripatetic nature of military life"
an·ti·thet·i·cal
/ˌan(t)əˈTHedək(ə)l/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
1.
directly opposed or contrasted; mutually incompatible.
"people whose religious beliefs are antithetical to mine"
He's more doer than Grand strategist
You're speaking part fact and many more parts fiction
It's more than considerable
Jan 4th 2019 to June 6th of this year
Registered deed
Personal name picture ID
Copy of tax ID forms articles of organization
Tenants
Lease
They're ID if I have it
Date that they moved out
Take pics uplaod to
Www.dteenergy.com/documents
Make sure you choose energy resolution department
Ownership information and tenants information
Follow up via email
1800 441 6698
Energy resolutions
What is the meaning of autarkic?
self-sufficiency, independence
1 : self-sufficiency, independence specifically : national economic self-sufficiency and independence.
313 774 342
Sterling Thompson
I'm personally exposed back in the day it was a partnership not a shareholder
I'm skirting peril
It's easier to use a fortune than to ever make one and to acendthe heights
Let me help you facilitate your trade
He's better than decent looking
He's an honest sinner then lying hypocrite
1050 Maggie
1027
I'm not one to assume the best
I got a plan for dominance and the money to execute it
I Diversified Beyond real estate
We share a Sensibility
I earn a decent fee but don't demand an excessive one
The most precious currency is trust
He's a capable Lieutenant undimmed by competition
What I like about real estate is you make money coming and going
This is my farewell Revenge
It depends on wins and weather
The prices of real estate began to sag you're not going to get that bull market premium
Before you start feeling a sense of dread
I took a wait and see approach
My risk spectrum is narrow
I have a general disinclination
Your blank personifies BIG
The Firm faced an extinction moment
Never want to give in or give up
Absurd gamble
I'm uncomfortable with the exposure
Wit and the gift of being amusing can be very helpful
That's true and untrue
This has shrunk to insignicance
We are all minor aristocrats
Mildly optimistic
I'm sometimes smart and usually lucky
I'm in the business of arranging loans
Many of these statements contain considerable truth
Came here for a Greener paycheck
Smooth and confident in public
She's known for his frequent laughter
Mass starvation
This is a partnership not a power rivalry
This is like a match in a dry forest
Let's live our life more then we articulate it
per·i·pa·tet·ic
/ˌperēpəˈtedik/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
1.
traveling from place to place, in particular working or based in various places for relatively short periods.
"the peripatetic nature of military life"
an·ti·thet·i·cal
/ˌan(t)əˈTHedək(ə)l/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
1.
directly opposed or contrasted; mutually incompatible.
"people whose religious beliefs are antithetical to mine"
He's more doer than Grand strategist
You're speaking part fact and many more parts fiction
It's more than considerable
Jan 4th 2019 to June 6th of this year
Registered deed
Personal name picture ID
Copy of tax ID forms articles of organization
Tenants
Lease
They're ID if I have it
Date that they moved out
Take pics uplaod to
Www.dteenergy.com/documents
Make sure you choose energy resolution department
Ownership information and tenants information
Follow up via email
1800 441 6698
Energy resolutions
What is the meaning of autarkic?
self-sufficiency, independence
1 : self-sufficiency, independence specifically : national economic self-sufficiency and independence.
313 774 342
Sterling Thompson
December 17, 2021
A detailed history of the firm and families of Brown Browns and then E. Harriman.
First part are a mixture of American history - and financial history - beginning in early 1800's - Brown Brothers were a financial then credit firm. This firm (a partnership) took prudent risks - but managed their risk portfolio. They supported the construction of the B&O railroad as an improvement over the network of Canals that facilitated trade in the Northeast before the Civil War. After the Civil War they invested in Rail Roads as the U.S. expanded westward.
The Brown Brothers and others were instrumental in the U.S. gaining influence within the World Banking Community after the conclusion of the First World War. The U.S. then became a Creditor nation (something it relinquished in the 1980's becoming a debtor nation). Karabell describes the U.S. at that time a financial force in World Finance - but not yet ready to 'lead' geopolitically - having to deal with the Great Depression/Isolationism/America Firsters.
The Brown Brothers had gained financial and then political influence becoming involved in 1920's-1930's investments in Latin America backed by U.S. Intervention.
The Brown Brothers partners worked in-and-out-of Finance and then U.S. Government during WWII - planning and delivering Air Power for victory; and then supporting the Bretton Woods agreements - which catapulted the U.S. into a financial leadership position (U.S. Dollar becoming the de facto reserve currency for the World versus the Great British Pound Sterling).
Even after WWII - the Brown Brothers were prudent risk managers. The story Karabell then tells involves Brown Brothers competitors moving away from being partnerships to becoming stock companies. This allowed Brown Brothers' competitors to engage in higher levels of risk to obtain higher levels of profit. The results for some of Brown Brothers' competitors involved them in the causes of the Great Recession of 2008-2009.
The change in the financial industry, the change in the culture (winning-profit maximization) the change in the tax laws - the change in the lack of anti-trust focus were contributing factors to the growth of the financial industry - and Brown Brothers 'stuck to their knitting' - and frankly forfeited some growth opportunities - but also declined some outside risk portfolios.
A good story - a good summary U.S. historical/financial history of the U.S.' coming-of-age in becoming a financial powerhouse for the world; while the U.S. itself is now a debtor nation.
Should be of interest to readers about financial history.
Carl Gallozzi
Cgallozzi@comcast.net
First part are a mixture of American history - and financial history - beginning in early 1800's - Brown Brothers were a financial then credit firm. This firm (a partnership) took prudent risks - but managed their risk portfolio. They supported the construction of the B&O railroad as an improvement over the network of Canals that facilitated trade in the Northeast before the Civil War. After the Civil War they invested in Rail Roads as the U.S. expanded westward.
The Brown Brothers and others were instrumental in the U.S. gaining influence within the World Banking Community after the conclusion of the First World War. The U.S. then became a Creditor nation (something it relinquished in the 1980's becoming a debtor nation). Karabell describes the U.S. at that time a financial force in World Finance - but not yet ready to 'lead' geopolitically - having to deal with the Great Depression/Isolationism/America Firsters.
The Brown Brothers had gained financial and then political influence becoming involved in 1920's-1930's investments in Latin America backed by U.S. Intervention.
The Brown Brothers partners worked in-and-out-of Finance and then U.S. Government during WWII - planning and delivering Air Power for victory; and then supporting the Bretton Woods agreements - which catapulted the U.S. into a financial leadership position (U.S. Dollar becoming the de facto reserve currency for the World versus the Great British Pound Sterling).
Even after WWII - the Brown Brothers were prudent risk managers. The story Karabell then tells involves Brown Brothers competitors moving away from being partnerships to becoming stock companies. This allowed Brown Brothers' competitors to engage in higher levels of risk to obtain higher levels of profit. The results for some of Brown Brothers' competitors involved them in the causes of the Great Recession of 2008-2009.
The change in the financial industry, the change in the culture (winning-profit maximization) the change in the tax laws - the change in the lack of anti-trust focus were contributing factors to the growth of the financial industry - and Brown Brothers 'stuck to their knitting' - and frankly forfeited some growth opportunities - but also declined some outside risk portfolios.
A good story - a good summary U.S. historical/financial history of the U.S.' coming-of-age in becoming a financial powerhouse for the world; while the U.S. itself is now a debtor nation.
Should be of interest to readers about financial history.
Carl Gallozzi
Cgallozzi@comcast.net
August 30, 2021
This book is well worth the read (by people of all economic perspectives)—it belies its title by providing (instead of investment advice as a casual observer might erroneously infer from a title such as Inside Money) valuable historical insights into the forces that shaped the United States and the world throughout the life of the US. Zachary Karabell covers not only businesses and banks, but also political and societal figures. These forces continue to be significant in our own time as they are fully at work in most everything that affects us today. Readers looking for thorough research and ample context will not be disappointed.
The author has been criticised for not being hard enough on Brown Brothers and other companies in the industrial North for their historical complicity in the use of enslaved persons for the production of cotton and other products involved in their businesses. However, it seems to me that Karabell has properly excoriated these companies for this complicity effectively and often throughout the book, and established a clear link between their wealth and slavery. I have yet to hear a convincing argument countering the observation that without historical slavery, capitalism as we know it today would not and could not exist—no need to bother with right wing nonsense about socialism.
Karabell displays great empathy with the moneyed class, mentioning Keynes only twice and merely tangentially. This provides a probably unintended explanation of why very wealthy persons apply their billions to support public officials who protect extreme libertarian policies—their amoral influence of public opinion toward politicians promoting oppressive, unbalanced, and otherwise destructive behaviors notwithstanding. The obscene and dangerous wealth inequality this creates is the natural result.
The author alludes to late capitalism, and credits Brown Brothers for their avoidance of the casino style practices that produced financial meltdowns. It's clear that the current system is not working for everyone, and the luck of even prudent companies such as Brown Brothers may be running out. For everyone's sake, let's do all we can to spread the tent to cover everyone—the alternative is we're all left in the rain, including Brown Brothers.
The author has been criticised for not being hard enough on Brown Brothers and other companies in the industrial North for their historical complicity in the use of enslaved persons for the production of cotton and other products involved in their businesses. However, it seems to me that Karabell has properly excoriated these companies for this complicity effectively and often throughout the book, and established a clear link between their wealth and slavery. I have yet to hear a convincing argument countering the observation that without historical slavery, capitalism as we know it today would not and could not exist—no need to bother with right wing nonsense about socialism.
Karabell displays great empathy with the moneyed class, mentioning Keynes only twice and merely tangentially. This provides a probably unintended explanation of why very wealthy persons apply their billions to support public officials who protect extreme libertarian policies—their amoral influence of public opinion toward politicians promoting oppressive, unbalanced, and otherwise destructive behaviors notwithstanding. The obscene and dangerous wealth inequality this creates is the natural result.
The author alludes to late capitalism, and credits Brown Brothers for their avoidance of the casino style practices that produced financial meltdowns. It's clear that the current system is not working for everyone, and the luck of even prudent companies such as Brown Brothers may be running out. For everyone's sake, let's do all we can to spread the tent to cover everyone—the alternative is we're all left in the rain, including Brown Brothers.
January 19, 2022
Karabell writes the history of American Capitalism through the eyes of one family firm: Brown Brothers Harriman. The longevity of the firm is outshined by the outsized impact it's had writing pieces of global history from its niche in the American cabal. This buttoned-up family lended & traded its way into American events ranging from the first steam engine, to the Titanic (almost), to government toppling with the CIA, to the highest levels of government (Bush family & beyond). Karabell does an equally amazing job trotting through quite literally the entire arc of American economic progress from 1790 through today. He makes an interesting argument tying the book together around the long-term sustainability of capitalism and how Brown Brothers Harriman could serve as a blueprint for a more risk-averse model in contrast with the over-reaching that we still feel today.
This book is an expedition. It has peaks and valleys, eye-openers and dry patches, and serves a unique perspective on American history. I highly recommend it, especially to someone ready to get in the trenches trying to understand how America got to where it is today. Karabell uses the extremely interesting lives of the Brown Brothers and the Harriman family to keep on otherwise drab economic history interesting and personal. My one warning is that it is, at its core, a history lesson on American economics - albeit a great one - so form expectations accordingly.
"The firm makes money for itself, for its employees and for its clients. It does so without fanfare, performing essential tasks for reasonable fees. What more can one ask? And why, exactly, should we ask for more?"
"The nineteenth century witnessed the way that money was the fuel for American power; the twentieth saw the people who channeled that money and governed the financial system acquire political power. And with the emergence of a uniquely wealthy United States after World War II, these men then created a financial and political framework not just for the United States but for the entire world."
"Shoemaker, stick to thy last"
This book is an expedition. It has peaks and valleys, eye-openers and dry patches, and serves a unique perspective on American history. I highly recommend it, especially to someone ready to get in the trenches trying to understand how America got to where it is today. Karabell uses the extremely interesting lives of the Brown Brothers and the Harriman family to keep on otherwise drab economic history interesting and personal. My one warning is that it is, at its core, a history lesson on American economics - albeit a great one - so form expectations accordingly.
"The firm makes money for itself, for its employees and for its clients. It does so without fanfare, performing essential tasks for reasonable fees. What more can one ask? And why, exactly, should we ask for more?"
"The nineteenth century witnessed the way that money was the fuel for American power; the twentieth saw the people who channeled that money and governed the financial system acquire political power. And with the emergence of a uniquely wealthy United States after World War II, these men then created a financial and political framework not just for the United States but for the entire world."
"Shoemaker, stick to thy last"
February 6, 2023
I think Brown Brothers wanted Zachary Karabell to do for them what Ron Chernow did for JP Morgan in "House of Morgan." Alas, while the book is interesting in parts, Karabell, despite having incredible access to what seems to be the complete correspondence of the firm and its partners going back nearly two centuries. While the sections on the early 19th century are interesting and the descriptions of the contributions of various partners to the war effort under FDR and the creation of the post-war system are interesting, they are largely well known. The book really falters when it makes the claim that somehow the ethic of the WASP elite and the decision to remain a private partnership are somehow great exemplars of "sustainable capitalism." This comes across as cloying moralism from the author and an effort to ingratiate himself with the authorizers of his access having written the "to be sure... they did finance the slave trade... and encourage the invasion of Nicaragua..." sections. Virtually every compliment that he pays the Brown Brothers partners could be paid to John D. Rockefeller, no sustainable capitalist him... It's more that the author would like this to be true, and would like to be seen as promoting "sustainability" than that it's really factually present in the material.
September 6, 2021
I enjoyed this book. Having some background in financial services working at an investment bank that maintained its partnership structure; it seems a delicate balance to strike - one which BBH didn't necessarliy achieve.
This book is all about money and how it is channeled and moved about the world in service of an objective, yet rarely does it spend much time droning on in a way that becomes cumbersome; it is a well-researched look into the personal dynamics of a firm that guided much of what took place in the world over the last 150+ or so years through its partners.
While BBH may not maintain the cache it once it, many of the physical creations as well as the worn paths to power remain. Like any disembodied entity, that is neither positive nor negative.
I found the author to be extremely even-handed. In a world that detests or adores financial services, the author does an exceptional job to call out the failures of the firm and its partners, while not seeming to have written the book with the goal of achieving some end of castigating BBH for its role in _________ (fill in the blank). It is simply a well-researched, thoughtfully composed work which I believe stands next to Lowenstein's works like America's Bank.
This book is all about money and how it is channeled and moved about the world in service of an objective, yet rarely does it spend much time droning on in a way that becomes cumbersome; it is a well-researched look into the personal dynamics of a firm that guided much of what took place in the world over the last 150+ or so years through its partners.
While BBH may not maintain the cache it once it, many of the physical creations as well as the worn paths to power remain. Like any disembodied entity, that is neither positive nor negative.
I found the author to be extremely even-handed. In a world that detests or adores financial services, the author does an exceptional job to call out the failures of the firm and its partners, while not seeming to have written the book with the goal of achieving some end of castigating BBH for its role in _________ (fill in the blank). It is simply a well-researched, thoughtfully composed work which I believe stands next to Lowenstein's works like America's Bank.
April 8, 2022
I did not mean to finish this book as quickly as I did. It is elegantly and efficiently told. The author clearly admires Brown Brothers Harriman but doesn't shy away from ways where the banks actions hurt others (Nicaragua) or how partners who went into politics might have allowed their view of the world to be the ONLY way forward.
This is a fantastic trip through American history touching briefly on what has powered this country forward. From the clearly stated facts of slavery and cotton to how similar the railroad boom and bust is to the tech infrastructure creation in the late 90s. Comparing Brown Brothers Harriman to big firms like Goldman Sachs and the choices each made in the 70s and 80s led to different results during the 2008 Financial Crisis sheds light on what sometimes seems like power in the shadows.
What is more this book does what all my favorite history books do. It makes me want to dive down and learn more.
This is a fantastic trip through American history touching briefly on what has powered this country forward. From the clearly stated facts of slavery and cotton to how similar the railroad boom and bust is to the tech infrastructure creation in the late 90s. Comparing Brown Brothers Harriman to big firms like Goldman Sachs and the choices each made in the 70s and 80s led to different results during the 2008 Financial Crisis sheds light on what sometimes seems like power in the shadows.
What is more this book does what all my favorite history books do. It makes me want to dive down and learn more.
January 25, 2023
This is a very odd book. It is essentially a canned financial and social history of the US as seen through the lens of the venerable banking partnership of Brown Brothers Harriman. Who was the target audience? Most banking histories (and I've read literally hundreds) focus on management, employees and occasionally customers. This focuses on the family and I can only conclude that the Brown and Harriman descendants needed their consciences to be cleared of various politically-fraught charges and so a book was commissioned.
For all its access to the doubtless fascinating archives of BBH, the book reveals very little. Only one transaction is ever exploring (Brown Brothers strong arms Nicaragua) and there's never any mention of profitability or other business metrics.
Finally, there are many factual errors in the canned history (Jackson defended New Orleans, not conquered it, etc.) that one starts fact checking everything.
For all its access to the doubtless fascinating archives of BBH, the book reveals very little. Only one transaction is ever exploring (Brown Brothers strong arms Nicaragua) and there's never any mention of profitability or other business metrics.
Finally, there are many factual errors in the canned history (Jackson defended New Orleans, not conquered it, etc.) that one starts fact checking everything.
September 4, 2021
I found this book, having been in the finance world all of my working life, to be very fascinating and further validation of my general conservatism throughout 50 years of banking.
Brown Brothers Harriman is the oldest and one of the largest investment banking firms in the world. Before reading this I had never heard of them. And, that is just the way the Brown Family believed to be the most successful way of building and maintaining a successful company. Under the radar but throughout its now nearly 200 year history always in the background mainstream of national and world finance, limited risk takers, first class confidence in the firm by its clients, first class reputation. Bigger is not always better, still a private partnership firm. Not glitzy, quietly going about the business they know best - making money for their clients and for themselves.
Brown Brothers Harriman is the oldest and one of the largest investment banking firms in the world. Before reading this I had never heard of them. And, that is just the way the Brown Family believed to be the most successful way of building and maintaining a successful company. Under the radar but throughout its now nearly 200 year history always in the background mainstream of national and world finance, limited risk takers, first class confidence in the firm by its clients, first class reputation. Bigger is not always better, still a private partnership firm. Not glitzy, quietly going about the business they know best - making money for their clients and for themselves.
September 22, 2021
Did we need a book-length treatment on Brown Brothers Harriman? Perhaps not. The first half of the book plods slowly through Brown Brothers' cautious, conservative early years, remarkable only for their ability to persistently choose the wrong side of history (cotton trade, slave trade, imperialism in Nicaragua). Second half picks up markedly with the merger with Harriman & Co. and the stories of Roosevelt's Wise Men drawn from BBH's ranks, as well as the unremarked upon transition from capitalist exploiters to patriotic planners who helped win WWII. JK pads the book throughout with generic narration on the transformation of the American economy. Bottom line--skip the book, read the Wikipedia articles.
June 28, 2021
Inside Money tells of the historical significance of the Brown Brothers Harriman investment firm. The history begins with the private lives of the Alexander Brown and his sons, the Brown Brothers who were born during the late 1700's in Ireland. By the 1830's and after Alexander's death the various Brown investment firms were located in Liverpool, Baltimore and New York and they survived when many businesses didn't. This isn't just a history of the Browns and E.H. Harriman, a successful investor in railroads. It's an interesting story of America's financial history through wars and catastrophes. BBH remains a currently successful private investment bank.
August 31, 2021
I had never heard of Brown Brothers Harriman, but their story is really interesting. This book tracks the firm's history as a power broker, but also reads as essentially a financial history of the United States. A great way to understand the transition of the U.S. economy over time to one mostly driven by finance and "paper" banking. It's a little dense at times, and the first half was much more interesting (to me at least) than the back half. I also really enjoyed the description of the firm's culture and risk appetite, and how it differs from many of the more well-known financial firms we all know of.
June 9, 2021
The author, while narrating the History of Brown Borthers Harriman Bank from its origin till date, provides an insight into the American way of Power from late eighteenth century to date. He also provides a great insight into the history of capitalism - history of booms and busts and what led to the same. In conclusion, the author says that the longevity and steady growth of firms were linked to striking a healthy balance of blue ocean growth through partners’ funds rather than punting on extremely high leverages.
March 16, 2023
I think I anticipated and waited too long for this one. It was an interesting history of the BBH firm, a great example of how capitalism can work well and be sustainable and work within boundaries without exploitation and with control. The timeline was extraordinary- through the whole of the founding and growth of the US this firm emerged.
My favorite parts were the WWII connection and this side of Averill Harriman’s story.
I’m only giving it 3 stars because it didn’t hold my interest. However, it is well done and, if this type of story of financial institutions is your groove, read it.
My favorite parts were the WWII connection and this side of Averill Harriman’s story.
I’m only giving it 3 stars because it didn’t hold my interest. However, it is well done and, if this type of story of financial institutions is your groove, read it.
October 14, 2024
Brown Brothers Harriman might not be as well known today as its historical rivals like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers etc, but for more than a century BBH was preeminent investment house in the USA. A century ago, it was one of the top 3 arguably. Zachary Karabell tells the story of how BBH, which stemmed from the Great Depression merger of Brown Brothers and Averell Harriman's investment firm, arose from the heady days of American 19th century capitalism and into the Great Depression to the current day.
March 5, 2022
This fascinating roadmap through a vital vein of American economic (and world) history was incredibly readable, well-researched and detailed the complexity of nation, business and relationship-building. I will likely re-visit multiple sections as there is so much to take in. Written with a surprisingly balanced take on the involvements, accomplishments and methods of BBH, it was refreshing and engaging.
June 24, 2021
A very well researched accounting of Brown Brothers, but also of other significant Wall Street firms and the history of American (and overseas) merchant/investment banking. However, many, many times the narrative wanders off the main topic to side stories, which might be interesting to some, but a huge distraction to others. I really struggled to stay interested and alert with this story.
July 14, 2021
This book is a deep dive into the history of a firm that has been quietly pushed aside, yet has been influential for around two hundred years. It won't be a book for everyone: it does get a little dry in sections, and is quite detailed on a fairly niche subject. But if you're someone like me, who is a nerd for the Gilded Age and economics, it's a perfect fit.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
March 16, 2022
Mr. Karabell does a fine job of detailing how a small group of bankers can have an oversized influence on U.S. history. I especially enjoyed the final chapter where he uses BBH's anonymous success in recent decades as a sign that all is not well in financial markets - for how can a firm doing its job so well be overshadowed so greatly by others in a financial sector that has become so bloated?
August 8, 2021
Well written and expertly researched. The author did a great job giving enough context to events without going down rabbit holes (some of these would have been fascinating, but beyond the book's scope).
August 24, 2025
Felt more like a history of US finance, exclusively through the lens of the Brown and, to a lesser extent, Harriman families. I expected more on political savagery and deeper state inner workings but it read like a history book.
May 26, 2021
A decent overview of the history of American finance from the 1830s through Bretton Woods, but the author occasionally strains to keep his subjects at the forefront of the narrative.
July 10, 2021
A must read
Great book combining US monetary history and BBH with very easy narrative. Strongly recommended for any one interested. Must read
Great book combining US monetary history and BBH with very easy narrative. Strongly recommended for any one interested. Must read
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