The House of Rothschild, Vol 1: Money's Prophets, 1798-1848 by Niall FergusonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
An extremely thorough look at a very interesting family I knew very little about.
This book has a lot of detail, which I enjoyed quite a bit. In addition to detail about the family it goes into depth about finance and economics, and the politics (and wars, etc.) going on in Europe during the first half of the 19th century, obviously as how they pertain to the Rothschild family.
This family is a real rags to riches family. Starting from unthinkable conditions (and restrictions) in Frankfurt's Jugendgasse, to the pinnacle of finance in less than 2 generations. I look forward to the second part.
Having recently finished a biography of the Warburgs, I'm surprised at how little overlap there seems to be (I think they were mentioned just once in this book). However, since this one ends in 1848, it's still a bit early in the Warburg timeline. The second part might have more.
Some of the passages I highlighted:
"Three things would give an investor and edge over his rival: closeness to the center of political life, the source of news; the speed with which he could receive news of events in the states far and near, and the ability to manipulate the transmission of that news to other investors." (p. 5)
"It is better to deal with a government in difficulties than with one that has luck on its side." (p. 77)
"James, Salomon and Nathan all came under conflicting pressures from the governments in Paris, Vienna and London: but the final outcome was a united and carefully calculated policy of non-commitment. (p. 132)
"if you want capital without interest, buy land. If you want your interest without capital, buy shares" (p. 428)
"His refusal to let Alphonse serve in the National Guard, for example, was more an assertion of the primacy of family interests over all politics than an explicitly anti-republican gesture." (p. 455)
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