The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America

Deputy Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones and author of Sons of Wichita, Schulman offers an in-depth biography of the German Jewish immigrant families whose names are still known as having been moguls of Wall Street, even when their firms have since gone kaput. The Goldmans and Sachs receive similar attention as the less-enduring Lehmans, Seligmans, Warburgs, Schiffs, Kuhns, and Loebs, in this story that celebrates the meteoric advancement of these remarkable financiers. While some of these immigrants started as traveling peddlers or fresh-off-the-boat bankers, they came to wield considerable influence in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Social history prevails somewhat over business analysis, but fans of either will find plenty to pique their interest. Narrator Jonathan Davis adds a bright, well-paced tenor to Schulman’s journalistic prose style, making for an engaging listening experience that goes far in dismantling the historical and contemporary antisemitism of which Schulman writes.