The Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street

In , Daniel Schulman delivered a bestselling history of “America’s most powerful and private dynasty,” the Koch family. Now the Mother Jones reporter is back with another formidable group portrait, spotlighting the Lehmans, Warburgs,  Schiffs, Loebs, Seligmans, Gold­mans, and Sachs, and other giants of German Jewish wealth and philanthropy who transformed Wall Street and modern America.

explores how those immigrants built their vast for­tunes in a world that fun­da­men­tal­ly dis­trust­ed Jews. The would both clash and collaborate with J. P. Morgan, E. H. Harriman, Jay Gould, and other famed tycoons. And their firms helped make the United States a financial superpower, underwriting quintessential companies like General Motors, Macy’s, and Sears. Schulman weaves their interconnected origins, chronicles their paths to dominance, and explores how they navigated the fierce prejudices of the upper class, from the Civil War to the rise of Zionism.”Full of illuminating information,” the book shares the unfamiliar story of “these men, their families, and their impact on modern corporate finance, IPOs, anti-trust legislation, the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank, philanthropy, Jewish life in the United States, Zionism, and antisemitic conspiracy theories” (Glenn Altschuler) and “doesn’t shy away from the unsavory, rendering his subjects with satisfying complexity” (The New Yorker).

David Huyssen, the author of and the forthcoming biography of Alfred Winslow Jones, “The Socialist Who Created the Hedge Fund,” joins in conversation.

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