Wall Street's Son (Morgan)

Author: [US] Strauss, Joan, translated by Wang Tongkuan, He Huiyu, et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-10-01
Features: Joan Strauss is one of America's most distinguished biographers, an accomplished scholar and genius writer. Her imaginative sensitivity allows her to penetrate the essence of things, and her extraordinary talent enables her to narrate her discoveries vividly and coherently. J. P. Morgan was the center of American finance before World War I and one of the most controversial public figures of the Gilded Age. The completion of this book is an incredible achievement, as the author infuses her own vitality and obsession with the subject—Morgan finally meets his match. A century ago, J. P. Morgan dominated the financial world like a giant. As the mastermind behind the creation of General Electric, U.S. Steel, and a vast railroad empire, he was the core banker of American finance for decades. Just months after his death in 1913, the Federal Reserve replaced the private financial system he had built. He was an early supporter of Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie, a close friend (and rival) of Theodore Roosevelt, a confidant of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, and a friend to several outstanding women. Morgan shaped his world in many ways and continues to shape ours, yet after his death, he remained shrouded in mystery. Some praised him as a hero of industrialization, while others condemned him as a greedy robber baron. This is a biography long overdue for Morgan: authoritative and meticulously detailed, it portrays the man who, without his domineering will, would have made America's financial and cultural landscape vastly different today. The book is beautifully written and took ten years to complete, based on newly discovered archival materials. The author, Joan Strauss, is a prize-winning biographer who vividly brings Morgan's life and his era to life, revealing the full humanity beneath his formidable exterior. Morgan's biography forces us to reconsider the role of bankers in the rise of the American economy. At the time, Morgan raised capital from Europe, restructured bankrupt railroads, stabilized markets during economic crises, and founded numerous large companies and financial institutions—today, these actions seem commonplace and expected. The fascinating stories and vivid details in this book transport us back in time: Morgan's childhood in Hartford and Boston, his education in Switzerland and Germany, his career beginnings in New York, and his relationships with others—his respected and stern father, his beloved first wife, his difficult second wife, his children, partners, business associates, and many friends. Morgan was also an art collector, preserving a treasure trove of historical wealth for America, including paintings and literary works. A contemporary expert called him "the greatest collector of our time," dedicating much of his energy and more than half his fortune to art. Strauss's extraordinary biography not only vividly and innovatively reconstructs Morgan's multifaceted life but also captures the cultural and political struggles and social conflicts of the Gilded Age in America.