flâneur

Founders Notes: Morgan

flaneur.sdan.io · 1,418 words · saved by 1 readers

The House of Morgan Ron Chernow It dawned on me that the hordes of financial novices might be ripe for a history that would chronicle how the old Wall Street evolved into the new. A straight history would be a tedious task for readers and do small justice to the turbulent pageant of heroes and scoundrels I was unearthing. So I posed the question: was there a single family or firm whose saga could serve as a prism through which to view the panoramic saga of Anglo-American finance? Only one firm, one family, one name rather gloriously spanned the entire century and a half that I wanted to cover: J.P. Morgan. This book is about the rise, fall, and resurrection of an American banking empire—the House of Morgan. Nobody was ever neutral about the Morgans. They practiced a brand of baking that has little resemblance to standard retail banking. These banks have no tellers, issue no consumer loans, and grant no mortgages. Rather, they serve an ancient European tradition of wholesale banking, serving governments, large corporations, and rich individuals. They avoid branches, seldom hang out signposts, and wouldn't advertise. Contrary to the usual law of perspective, the Morgans seem to grow

The House of Morgan Ron Chernow It dawned on me that the hordes of financial novices might be ripe for a history that would chronicle how the old Wall Street evolved into the new. A straight history would be a tedious task for readers and do small justice to the turbulent pageant of heroes and scoundrels I was unearthing. So I posed the question: was there a single family or firm whose saga could serve as a prism through which to view the panoramic saga of Anglo-American finance? Only one firm, one family, one name rather gloriously spanned the entire century and a half that I wanted to…

related reading