Nathan Mayer Rothschild and the Creation of a Dynasty: The Critical Years 1806-1816

This book is a brightly written scholarly work of merit which will be of interest to students of Napoloeonic era economics and finance, as well as students of the Rothschild dynasty. Put out by a distinguished publisher, Stanford U. Press, the book is amply footnoted and indexed. Why was it written?The author, historian Herbert Kaplan, says he stumbled on new information about Nathan Rothschild while doing archival research on the London firm owned by Levy Barent Cohen, Nathan Rothschild's father-in-law.According to Kaplan, "the history of the Rothschilds has been a well-plowed field, but not plowed well. All accounts. . .contain errors. . ." and important questions remained about how Nathan Rothschild "made his money and how much he made."Accordingly, Kaplan sets out on a detailed examination of Nathan Rothchild's business activities interwoven with a detailed examination of England's financial problems during the Napoleonic wars. In the process, Kaplan debunks certain well-worn beliefs about Rothschild. For example, Kaplan finds Rothschild did not profit from receiving early news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.I wish there was more information in the book of a personal biographical nature, but apparently not much such information is available. I did learn Nathan Rothschild was an irascible bully who regularly insulted his four brothers, with whom he was in business, causing them great anguish.I read this book in conjunction with another Rothschild book, Amos Elon's Founder. Founder: A Portrait of the First Rothschild and His Time  That book is a social history of the Jews of Frankfurt, Germany as well as a biography of the elder Rothschild and his five sons. Founder made a nice companion volume and overall I would say Kaplan succeeds admirably in explaining how Nathan Rothschild made his money and how much he made. Founder: A Portrait of the First Rothschild and His Time

The book is a bore, written more like a doctoral thesis than a book meant to be read by anyone actually interested in the House of Rothschild.