Book Review: House of Morgans
“Fact is stranger than fiction”. That is exactly how you feel whenever you read a non fiction book written about any mogul or a financial or industrial behemoths like House of Morgans, Rothschild, Medici, Rockefeller and many more of such rare breed.
What’s interesting about House of Morgans, is that it’s the parent of two of todays most powerful global financial conglomerates namely JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley,and it’s London house bought by Deutsche Bank in 1980s. The two American entities were separated by the Glass steagall, passed in the aftermath of 1929 depression.
Now coming to the book, it’s true what they say that a great writer can excite you and put you in the same world as the one he is writing. Ron Chernov does exactly that. Though the book is a little too heavy for a non seasoned reader, the study of probably one of the last financial barons deserves such space. For a history and finance geek, the book will the most fun you will have while reading the book. It’s a little old and covers only till 1980s.
Book starts with giving you the glimpse into the world where capital was limited and companies depended on their bankers for getting the scarce resource. It was a world where London was the financial capital of the world and George Peabody the American agent on London financial market. It will be after world War 1 when America will gain the control as the global leader in financing through its ally on 23 wall street, JPMorgan.
Such was the glory of JPMorgan that it had connections with all the major governments in Europe, Japan and Latin America. It raised debt for all the major governments across the globe with conditions of its own and devised a plan for reparations loan after both world wars.
J. Pierpont Morgan commanded such power during his lifetime that he was called to save America from 1880s gold crisis and 1907 market crash. Never after would one person hold such power in American financial market. Jack Morgan, JPMorgans son, enjoyed similar power.
Then came the 1929 crisis and the American population distrust with financial institutions. This led to glass steagall and rest is history.
Without further releasing much information and running your fun, I would say I am excited to read Ron’s other books like Titan, which is poised to be one of the greatest business books ever written and the recently released Hamilton.
