The Death of the Banker: The Decline and Fall of the Great Financial Dynasties and the Triumph of the Small Investor (Vintage)

Chernow explains why the financial dynasties have receded to the status of historic dinosaurs--that is why they don't represent a permanent feature of economic life but a fleeting phase in the development of capitalist econimies. Chernow takes the demise of the Rothschilds, Morgans, Barings, Warburgs as his starting point for a panoramic survey of the world of high finance during the past two centuries For future historians, the salient fact of twentieth-century finance will be the financial intermidiary. Bankers are glorified go-betweens, conduits for capital flowds. Ever since the Glass-Steagall Act of the 1930s, American finance has been partitioned into commercial banks, which take deposits and make loans, and investment banks, which issue, trade, and distribute securities. During the past generation, the small investor has evolved, in striking fashion, from a bit player and pariah to the mainstay of global financial markets. Hence Chernow's story originates in a vanished world of paunchy men with watch chains, striped pants, and thick cigars, and ends up with the modern mutual-fund boom.

Chernow does another excellent job reviewing banking history of some of the titians of the 20th century. I kind of hope he does an updated version to discuss what is left of them after the 2008 financial crash.

Already read the author’s book on the House of Morgan, this book was a great light read. It details different banking dynasties and related the similarities and differences to the financial system of the 1980s. This book encouraged me to get the author’s book on the Warburgs!

Author of two extensive biographies The House of Morgan and The Warburgs, this book is basically a condensed version of the two, or a summation. None the less it is interesting and informative detailing the history of investment banking and the great financial empires. It also concludes with a short biography on the subjects of the two biographies. I will not go into detail on the contents as the synopsis has done that for this work.

Ron Chernow is one of the great historians of banking and finance, and this is a look at one of the great transitions in that history: the death of what was for a long time the dominant kind of banking, the fall of the great financial dynasties.Many of those dynasties were born originally as merchant families. Successful merchant families tended to accumulate capital, and they had to do something with that capital--and rulers wanted money to field armies and live in a style befitting rulers, without raising taxes to the point that their subjects rebel.Lending money to other businesses took longer.Over time, the relationships among bankers, businesses, and investors changed, with the relative power of each rising and falling over time and changing economic realities.In the nineteenth century, bankers were at the height of their power.By the time Chernow wrote this book, in the late 1990s, investment bankers, though wealthy and influential, had fallen dramatically compared to both major corporations, and the small investor.I had initially not noticed the original publication date on this book, and was surprised as I gradually realized that Chernow seemed not just to be not discussing events of the last decade, but seemed to be unaware of them. Then I checked, and realized that, why, yes, he didn't know about the events of the last decade, because the book was written twenty years ago.It's good. It's thoughtful. It's interesting.But if you're looking for history and analysis that includes the financial industry events that have disrupted our lives over the last decade, you'll need to look for a more recent book.With that caveat, recommended.I bought this audiobook.

A very concise and exacting insight into the times and roles of the banker in the world's financial affairs. So easy to read.

Having spent a career in banking this is a very interesting perspective from an extremely knowledgeable source.

Reading material for this winter