The House of Rothschild

Volume 1: Money's Prophets: 1798-1848

By: Niall Ferguson

Narrated by: Alexander Adams

From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower

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

Critic reviews

"A stupendous achievement, a triumph of historical research and imagination."—Robert Skidelsky, The New York Review of Books

"Niall Ferguson's brilliant and altogether enthralling two-volume family saga proves that academic historians can still tell great stories that the rest of us want to read."—The New York Times Book Review

"Superb ... An impressive ... account of the Rothschilds and their role in history."—Boston Globe

inspiring

it was very inspiring i really enjoyed it hope there is a volume 2 very soon.

myth vs fact

First time author for me. The Rothschild family is one that I'd heard of for most of my life but never knew any real detail about and sometimes pondered who they were and where were they today, they seem to be everywhere, which basically they are.

This book goes back to the roots, Frankfurt, Germany in the 1700s. Even back then there were Jewish Ghettos, which became more famous in World War II. The ghetto wasn't even called that rather Gasse or street but they were the same thing. Even in the mid 1700s the Jews were forced to live in very small communities and were restricted from just about everything, even when they could venture into the world of the gentiles. They were limited as to how many could even live in the Gasse, how many could marry, how many could move in from the outside. In fact, even in my lifetime, I've heard the question asked as to how could the Jews be such good businessmen? Well, one reason is that they were restricted from just about every profession so they went to the areas where they weren't restricted and business was an area they could function. Into this scenario was born the House of Rothschild. From one person who grew up in this environment, the founder got very good at it. He saved his money and used it to make more money. He sent his sons to Vienna, Naples, Paris, and London and along with Frankfurt developed them all into business centers. They worked with governments, the wealthy, anyone or anything that needed money and got very good at it. They succeeded where others didn't and that success exists even today.

I would have been better off with an abridged version of this book. This one was too long and detailed for my interests. I suppose scholars and others with a keen interest on the subject might like it in this detail. But for my informational purposes I only needed more of an overview. Still it is a fascinating story.

Very inside baseball.

Kind of dull unless your a banker and are into 19th century milieu of aristocrats, squabbles, wars and politics focused on lending practices as investments in growth potential as strictly a capitalist endeavor. Informative.

if you like minutiea and tedium you'll love this

bouncing back and forth, it was sometimes difficult to follow in some controlled manner. I ha thought this was going to be more of a history of the rothschilds themselves rather than the story of the time, the politics and the economics of the era up to 1848. While I love history and historical figures, I'm not sure that I came away from this book knowing much more about the Rothschilds other than what I'd learned from other books.

can't wait for number 2

well done very detailed. the author did his research and it shows. the Narrator was wonderful.