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

The family remained Jewish in faith and race. They may not have been the most devout, buy they did observe the rules and laws and did not “convert” like many others (e.g. Benjamin Disraeli’s family.) When one of Nathan’s daughters did convert to marry, she was shunned by almost everyone including her own mother. They were seen as exemplars of successful Jews who also cared about their “co-religionists”; speaking out for tolerance and donating to community needs and causes. Lines like "When a Jew lends to a noble, he owns that noble" sound conspiratorial now, but he is not wrong in seeing himself as the winner of the Napoleonic Wars. And you have to love that he would drunkenly horrify/entertain his guests later in life by putting on all the courtly uniforms of the courts that had knighted him. He trolls with the best. if you want capital without interest, buy land. If you want your interest without capital, buy shares" (p. 428)As the first volume, this sequence has fourteen chapters grouped in three parts, plus an epilogue: Uncles and Nephews (chapters 1-5: the quest for emancipation; the fast social transformations of 1849-1858; impacts of nationalism; of the transition to the gold monetary standard; and the death of James, the last surviving son, and events leading to the 1870 war); through those of Cousins (chapters 6-13: the aftermath of war; the distancing of fourth generation Rothschilds from banking; Sionism; diversification from banking and the building of the multinational mining empire; involvement with politics, mainly in Britain; imperialism; the Games of Alliances; the financing of the arms race preceding 1914), to the times of Descendants (chapter 14, about the apparent decline of the family between 1915 and 1945). The Epilogue covers the period from the War to the 21st century and hails a revival of the Rothschild role in the world. I also appreciate his analysis that showed while the London house was the biggest in the early 1800's, the other houses grew more after that and were equals to London by the time of Nathan's death.

Nathaniel and his brothers leave the Frankfurt ghetto as the French Revolution is getting underway. Nathaniel goes to London and proceeds to revolutionize financial markets and through daring, cunning, risk-taking, mathematical acumen, and pure viciousness dominate financial markets. The Rothschilds understand markets on a level which is distinctly modern. Concepts that we consider basic, like hedging and arbitrage, they invent to dominate the financial landscape of the Napoleonic Wars and the 19th century. It's a beautiful thing. I’ve watched the aforementioned series and thought he was interesting enough to look up his earlier works. It was an amazing account of how merchants could set themselves up as bankers and establish banking houses across multiple countries, overcome the barriers just about all other Jews faced at the time (including restrictions on land ownership), and how family members could be "kept in line." Ferguson shows convincingly how a family of Frankfurt antique dealers ascended the hierarchy of finance during the Napoleanic wars to become the richest individuals in history. Thanks to Mayer Amschel's five sons scattered across Europe, in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Naples and Vienna, and their family creed of "Concordia," the Rothshcilds were able to trade bills, bullion, and subsidies across the continent for both the French, and, more importantly, the allies, who needed funds for their scattered campaigns. In the post-bellum period, alliances with such nabobs as the British Treasury member John Charles Herries and infamous reactionary Austrian diplomat Prince Metternich, both of whom the Rothschild offered rich personal subventions, allowed them to dominate the world of government bonds, and thus dictate many government policies, especially those regarding war and peace. 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'One of the reviewer's first tasks is to give to the prospective reader some sense of what the book contains. Wormell's attempt at this is to say the least perfunctory. The book, he writes, 'is bedded in the nineteenth-century Europe's diplomatic manoeuvrings, wars and preparations for wars'. So much for that. He devotes half a sentence to the central issue of the family's Judaism. He gives the reader almost no inkling of the contributions the book makes to the social, political and cultural history of nineteenth-century Europe.

By translating internal documentation from the original Judendeutsch he shows that while the family presented a united front to thew world, there were a lot of internal disagreement. Not only between the different houses, but also between the different generations. However, it was their geographical diversity that allowed the family to weather fiscal crises - a key strength compared to their local competitors. 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) Let's look at the good side. Ferguson notes that the bonds issued by the Rothschilds would almost invariably rise and settle well above their initial strike price. Ferguson concludes correctly that this pattern was a clear sign of superior management. Indeed the Rothschilds chose their projects carefully. They underwrote responsibly which meant that their clients did not bankrupt themselves trying to pay debt beyond their resources but rather became richer because their borrowing costs were in proportion to their ability to pay. The author of 15 books, Ferguson is writing a life of Henry Kissinger, the first volume of which--Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist--was published in 2015 to critical acclaim. The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild won the Wadsworth Prize for Business History. Other titles include Civilization: The West and the Rest, The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die and High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg. A decorated Prussian aristocrat comes to Nathaniel Rothschild. Nathaniel doesn't look up from his desk, "take a seat". The Prussian feels offended, "Do you know the eminence to which you are speaking?" Nathaniel, still not looking up, "Fine, take two seats."

Success!

Of course Ferguson demolishes many of the myths that have surrounded the Rothschilds since their ascent, much of which emerged from scurrilous anti-Semitic tracts (for instance, Nathan Rothschild didn't make his fortune buying bonds when he heard first the information about Waterloo, in fact, he had large contracts out to supply the army that peace, at least at this point, threatened to cancel). Still, Ferguson wonderfully explains how the family's Jewish identify helped them succeed and at the same time kept them out of the top realms of power. Still, their desire for a removal from the Christian world often lead to a stunning amount of inbreeding in the third and later generations of the family that one cannot help but be baffled at. If you, like me, groan loudly at shows and cultural items that glorify European nobility, from Pierre in War and Peace to all the Victorian movies/shows where every male actor looks like Eddie Redmayne, then the story of Rothschilds will be deeply satisfying. Niall Ferguson is a fantastic writer, but if I may riff for a second... This is wonderful book which should be read by anyone interested in the history of France, England, and Germany. Several shortcomings of this book however should be noted. Niall Ferguson is an Oxford history professor who mistakenly believes that his rudimentary knowledge of finance also includes a basic understanding of the theory of financial markets. It does not which results in Ferguson arriving at some quite laughable conclusions.