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Founder: A Portrait of the First Rothschild and His Time
Meyer Amschel Rothschild was born in the Frankfurt ghetto in the mid-eighteenth century, in a city more restrictive in its treatment of Jews than any in Europe. Elon brilliantly depicts Meyer Amschel Rothschild's position there, and life on the almost unimaginably cramped Judengasse (the single street of the ghetto), where he lived his whole life - even after becoming one of the richest men in Germany. We read how he established his small trading and banking business, and forged an uneasy relationship (though one mutually profitable in different ways) with the financially obsessed Crown Prince Wilhelm of Kassel; how he pushed at and eventually broke through the restrictions that bound him and his family to the ghetto until he found himself essentially paying for the English war effort in the Peninsula in 1810. On a richly delineated canvas the emergence and secularization of a family and Western European Jewry is depicted.
Founder is more than a short biography of an obviously extraordinary man. It is a portrait of Meyer Amschel Rothschild's times, of the condition of the Jews, of the state of Germany until it was overrun by the troops of Napoleonic France, which led to the collapse of the old order. It is about the threshold of modern times, when a world of aristocrats and gentlemen was permanently changed by a shrewd, dedicated, and loyal financier and his family. We still cannot know him as well as we do his children; but at last, in this book, Meyer Amschel Rothschild himself emerges from the shadows of the Judengasse.
Founder is more than a short biography of an obviously extraordinary man. It is a portrait of Meyer Amschel Rothschild's times, of the condition of the Jews, of the state of Germany until it was overrun by the troops of Napoleonic France, which led to the collapse of the old order. It is about the threshold of modern times, when a world of aristocrats and gentlemen was permanently changed by a shrewd, dedicated, and loyal financier and his family. We still cannot know him as well as we do his children; but at last, in this book, Meyer Amschel Rothschild himself emerges from the shadows of the Judengasse.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 29, 2014
Excellent brief history of the founding of a family and a family fortune. Elon conveys what it was like for the Ghetto Jews in Frankfurt and how the Rothschilds helped to liberate them.
March 5, 2020
Great book about the founding member of the Rothschild banking dynasty. Great story of struggle, perseverance, and innovation in overcoming tremendous odds. I have returned to parts of it several times and use it as a reference in subsequent work.
February 11, 2020
Magnificent book. Unforgettable.
February 14, 2018
Liked the story and historical aspects. Interesting pictures. Some details and story lines were confusing but enjoyed!
January 25, 2025
I plan to read more of Amos Elon’s books, I really like how he formats a storyline with a well thought out approach. It’s a great insight on Jewish history.
Mayer Rothschild, who I personally see as a role model, has been depicted in this book in more detail than I’ve seen in a documentary or clips of his story and dynasty.
I was able to learn about his personality, accounts from other important figures of his time, his friends and family. And my most exciting revelation of numerous letters back and forth with his sons and clients.
This book would also precisely expose and debunk the silly conspiracy theories pushed on social media. This story portrays a family that were oppressed and marginalised by society. Living in Frankfurt as a Jew, was like being a 3rd class citizen. They were limited to specific fields of employment, the same fields that ensure the success of the Rothschild and sons banking family.
The Jews of Frankfurt were segregated and refused citizenship, they couldn’t migrate to other places for the same reason , and yet we see silly concepts of how they amounted to such wealth and prestige.
Even as a devoted Christian, I could see God was on their side, as there is no grace in oppressing those with a different faith than your own, a concept lost to their Lutherans of Germany, Orthodox of Eastern Europe and Catholics of Southern Europe.
Mayer Rothschild, who I personally see as a role model, has been depicted in this book in more detail than I’ve seen in a documentary or clips of his story and dynasty.
I was able to learn about his personality, accounts from other important figures of his time, his friends and family. And my most exciting revelation of numerous letters back and forth with his sons and clients.
This book would also precisely expose and debunk the silly conspiracy theories pushed on social media. This story portrays a family that were oppressed and marginalised by society. Living in Frankfurt as a Jew, was like being a 3rd class citizen. They were limited to specific fields of employment, the same fields that ensure the success of the Rothschild and sons banking family.
The Jews of Frankfurt were segregated and refused citizenship, they couldn’t migrate to other places for the same reason , and yet we see silly concepts of how they amounted to such wealth and prestige.
Even as a devoted Christian, I could see God was on their side, as there is no grace in oppressing those with a different faith than your own, a concept lost to their Lutherans of Germany, Orthodox of Eastern Europe and Catholics of Southern Europe.
July 31, 2019
I came across this book by chance and was interested in the many historical photos it contained, particularly of the old Frankfurt ghetto. Of course it contains many descriptions of the ghetto and the appalling discrimination suffered by the Jews pre-dating Rothschild's birth in 1744 and during his lifetime including restrictions on movement outside the ghetto. Travellers entering by the main gate paid 4 kreuzer, Jews and oxen 8. What can I say?
March 16, 2020
A very easy read for the student of Rothschild. This book is all about the father of the five sons that created the banking empire. Beginning with his expertise with coinage as a boy/young man. Rothschild moves into other trading.
June 9, 2024
The title is self-explanatory. To me, the most interesting part of the book was it's description of the appalling conditions in the Frankfurt ghetto (which was costly and overcrowded because it was not allowed to grow with the Jewish population).
October 29, 2021
Totally fascinating. Couldn't put it down, and learned so much about which I previously had no idea.
December 31, 2021
Excellent work on one of the most incredible rags-to-riches stories mankind has ever seen.
June 29, 2025
Fantastic. Good book to read in combo w The Pity of It All or instead of it if want a more cursory overview of Jewish history in Germany during the Enlightenment.
July 20, 2025
Great history lesson on a famous family of bankers. It’s helpful to understand where they came from to full respect the scope of their success.
February 17, 2010
The author says this wasn't an "official" or "authorized" biography of Mayer Amschel Rothschild but he was given encouragement and support from the Rothschild family including access to the families private archives.
Elon does not intentionally paint a conspiratorial picture of Rothschild but its impossible not to see him that way for me. There was more going on here than him wanting to better his own and his families life. His description of Rothschild worming his foot in the door by selling the crown Prince in Germany collectable coins, Rothschilds complete obsession with money, the secret passages, hidden cellars and trap doors where they hid wealth so as not to be taxed and kept their real financial records as opposed to their doctored ones, having secret codes that he communicated with in letters to his sons after they set up shop around Europe. I seriously couldn't help but being mentally barraged with images of Shylock from Shakespeares Merchant of Venice and scenes from The Eternal Jew. Maybe old Mayer Amschel created the mold and stereotype. He also married all his children into the richest Jewish families in Europe and for what its worth this book says that 2/3 of Mayer Amschel Rothschilds Grandchildren married each other.
There is also a lot of stuff about the eggshells the Rothschilds had to walk on with the Royalty and Elon talks of the Rothschilds being "disenfranchised", but its kind of hard for me to take the claim of them being "disenfranchised" too serious when they were hobknobbing with Royalty and controlling huge sums of money. I think the Nobility kept the Jews on a short leash because they knew that they were a conspiratorial people. But greed won over the Royalty and Nobility in the end of course because by the mid 1800s the Rothschilds had more control over Europes finances than anyone had ever had before. So the oppressed German Jew thing doesn't go far with me when I know the Royalty were selling off German peasants as Hessian soldiers as cannon fodder to die in wars for other countries. I doubt even low class Jews had it any worse than the German peasantry and to say the moneyed class of Jews did is utterly laughable.
Overall this is a very good book even if you have to read between the lines here and there.
Elon does not intentionally paint a conspiratorial picture of Rothschild but its impossible not to see him that way for me. There was more going on here than him wanting to better his own and his families life. His description of Rothschild worming his foot in the door by selling the crown Prince in Germany collectable coins, Rothschilds complete obsession with money, the secret passages, hidden cellars and trap doors where they hid wealth so as not to be taxed and kept their real financial records as opposed to their doctored ones, having secret codes that he communicated with in letters to his sons after they set up shop around Europe. I seriously couldn't help but being mentally barraged with images of Shylock from Shakespeares Merchant of Venice and scenes from The Eternal Jew. Maybe old Mayer Amschel created the mold and stereotype. He also married all his children into the richest Jewish families in Europe and for what its worth this book says that 2/3 of Mayer Amschel Rothschilds Grandchildren married each other.
There is also a lot of stuff about the eggshells the Rothschilds had to walk on with the Royalty and Elon talks of the Rothschilds being "disenfranchised", but its kind of hard for me to take the claim of them being "disenfranchised" too serious when they were hobknobbing with Royalty and controlling huge sums of money. I think the Nobility kept the Jews on a short leash because they knew that they were a conspiratorial people. But greed won over the Royalty and Nobility in the end of course because by the mid 1800s the Rothschilds had more control over Europes finances than anyone had ever had before. So the oppressed German Jew thing doesn't go far with me when I know the Royalty were selling off German peasants as Hessian soldiers as cannon fodder to die in wars for other countries. I doubt even low class Jews had it any worse than the German peasantry and to say the moneyed class of Jews did is utterly laughable.
Overall this is a very good book even if you have to read between the lines here and there.
August 23, 2007
Captivating either in spite of or because of it's extremely short length.
Most important thing to note about this book, other then the observation that it is a very good book, is that author really does "paint" a portrait that includes both the Man AND his time.
I felt the attention to the society of Rothschild really paid off at the end of the book. Rothschild is important not merely because he generated a truly epic amount of wealth for his family, but because he serves as a symbol of the manner in which capitalism changed the lives of those who practiced it.
Certainly, the Rothschild clan has been the focus of much anti-semitism and conspiracy theory. As a Jew, I always felt such talk was ridiculous, but I was interested to find the so-called "grain of truth" which, coupled with a long standing, virulent history of anti-semitism served to transform the Rothschilds into a focus for so much bile.
For example, the Rothschild's lent signifigant amounts of capital to the family which held the postal monopoly for the Holy Roman Empire ("Thurn and Taxis" Post). This relationship enabled the Rothschild's to take advantage of the "intelligence gathering" capabilities of the Postal system to their benefit.
This was a theme at the heart of Thomas Pynchon's excellent novel "The Crying of Lot 49". Which I recommend to those who enjoyed in this book.
Like Niall Ferguson's two part saga of the family history, this book was written in cooperation with the Rothschild family.
I recommend this book both for the portrait of the man as well as the portrait of the place and time.
Most important thing to note about this book, other then the observation that it is a very good book, is that author really does "paint" a portrait that includes both the Man AND his time.
I felt the attention to the society of Rothschild really paid off at the end of the book. Rothschild is important not merely because he generated a truly epic amount of wealth for his family, but because he serves as a symbol of the manner in which capitalism changed the lives of those who practiced it.
Certainly, the Rothschild clan has been the focus of much anti-semitism and conspiracy theory. As a Jew, I always felt such talk was ridiculous, but I was interested to find the so-called "grain of truth" which, coupled with a long standing, virulent history of anti-semitism served to transform the Rothschilds into a focus for so much bile.
For example, the Rothschild's lent signifigant amounts of capital to the family which held the postal monopoly for the Holy Roman Empire ("Thurn and Taxis" Post). This relationship enabled the Rothschild's to take advantage of the "intelligence gathering" capabilities of the Postal system to their benefit.
This was a theme at the heart of Thomas Pynchon's excellent novel "The Crying of Lot 49". Which I recommend to those who enjoyed in this book.
Like Niall Ferguson's two part saga of the family history, this book was written in cooperation with the Rothschild family.
I recommend this book both for the portrait of the man as well as the portrait of the place and time.
December 28, 2013
A short and easy read, a vivid portrait of both the man and the interesting times he lived in. Not an objective history per se, as clearly the author has a soft spot for Mayer, but that's not really an issue (not least because of his role in Jewish emancipation). I felt the author could have been clearer on some of the (pivotal) business deals - and the work contains some basic typos - but they are minor quibbles.
May 10, 2011
The beginning of a great dynasty of financiers. They financed every war and helped build nations.
Interesting.
Interesting.
October 29, 2025
Excellent book, but my original review of it is lost.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews