Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York

by Stephen Birmingham

Book Overview

A novelist who has specialized in creating tales of the rich and well placed offers an insider's view of one of the wealthiest segments of an affluent city: Jewish upper--class life in New York.

Working with diaries, letters, and personal reminiscences supplied by members of interwoven families--Loeb, Lehman, straus, seligman, and Guggenheism, among others--Stephen Birmingham has assembled a remarkable composite portrait. some of his tales are wildly...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815604114
• ISBN13: 9780815604112
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Masterful Account of A Fascinating Segment of NY Culture

IF YOU'VE EVER WONDERED ABOUT THE HISTORY OF A POWERFUL SEGMENT OF OUR SOCIETY, WHERE THEY CAME FROM, HOW THEY EVOLVED, THE INFLUENCE THEY HAD, BIRMINGHAM'S ACCOUNT OF THE RISE OF THE POWERFUL JEWISH FAMILIES IN NEW YORK THAT ESPECIALLY INFLUENCED OUR FINANCIAL COMMUNITY WILL FASCINATE YOU. IT READS ALMOST LIKE A NOVEL AND IS DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN. YOU WILL COME TO KNOW WHO THESE PEOPLE WERE, THEIR PERSONALITIES, THEIR CHARACTERS, THEIR BRILLIANCE. IT'S A WONDERFUL READ!

Well-written and interesting

This was a very interesting account of the German-Jewish experience in the United States from the mid 19th century through the mid 20th century. It looks carefully at how a number of families rose stratospherically into the nation's financial elite within a short period of time. While the families were assimilated on some levels (particularly with respect to economic achievement), they clung to their German roots on other levels (as demonstrated by their American-born children being schooled in the German tradition, and by certain political views). Many members of this group saw themselves as being German before being Jewish, and this set up an intra-religious "pecking order" (a member of this group marrying a non-German Jew was apparently out of the question). I only wish that the book would be updated, as it ends in the late 1950s.

Facinating and wonderfully written

I picked this book up on a whim not knowing what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. Takes you through the history of the German Jewish banking families from the early 1800's when they were in dry goods; ends with the genesis of some of the most influential banking houses in the world. Lehman Brothers started out as cotton brokers in Alabama ... Marcus Goldman used to walk around downtown with commercial paper stuffed in his hat ... August Belmont was a pioneer of being fashionably late ... a number of them used to summer near Long Branch, New Jersey which is now an enclave of Brazilian wood flooring contractors. There were definitely portions that dragged a bit, but it's made up for by being wonderfully written. A quick read and if you don't like it, doubles nicely as a coaster.

Where are the Glories of Yesteryear?

I read this book many years ago and found it yet another fascinating chapter, in that endlessly fascinating story of how Jews have lived through the generations. My guess is that the scions of a good share of the families chronicled here are no longer part of the Jewish world. Here the question is raised of the mixed feelings created by ' successful Jews who are no longer very Jewish, or in other cases consciously and decidedly not Jewish. The Schiffs, the Warburgs, the Belmonts, the Ochs- Sulzbergers , the Morgenthaus,et. al. . Where are the Glories of Yesteryear?

Engaging history

A very interesting history of the great Jewish families of New York. Birmingham flings the door open on some of the most reclusive and secretive oligopolies in business history. Not only is it an eye opening history of the German jews in New York but it is engaging and interesting to read. It does not read like a textbook. Birmingham has really done his homework. If you want to learn about some real eccentric/succesful personalities and about the German jewish families ofNew York, this is the best book on the subject.