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"Our crowd", the great Jewish families of New York, Stephen Birmingham ; cover design by Angela Goddard

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"Our crowd"

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Stephen Birmingham ; cover design by Angela Goddard

the great Jewish families of New York

The New York Times–bestselling history of the rise of the most powerful and privileged Jewish families in America They immigrated to America from Germany in the nineteenth century with names like Loeb, Sachs, Seligman, Lehman, Guggenheim, and Goldman. From tenements on the Lower East Side to Park Avenue mansions, this handful of Jewish families turned small businesses into imposing enterprises and amassed spectacular fortunes. But despite possessing breathtaking wealth that rivaled the Astors and Rockefellers, they were barred by the gentile establishment from the lofty realm of the 400, a register of New York’s most elite, because of their religion and humble backgrounds. In response, they created their own elite 100, a privileged society as opulent and exclusive as the one that had refused them entry. Our Crowd is the fascinating story of this rarefied society. Based on letters, documents, diary entries, and intimate personal remembrances of family lore by members of these most illustrious clans, it is an engrossing portrait of upper-class Jewish life over two centuries; a riveting story of the bankers, brokers, financiers, philanthropists, and business tycoons who started with nothing and turned their family names into American institutions

Cover Page -- Praise for the Writing of Stephen Birmingham -- Title Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Part I A Particular Principality -- 1 "People We Visit" -- Part II Out of the Wilderness (1837-1865) -- 2 "Mount Seligman" -- 3 "Mount Beautiful" -- 4 On the Road -- 5 Mrs. Rankin's Galoshes -- 6 On to the City -- 7 Matters of Status -- 8 Matters of Style -- 9 To the Gold Fields -- 10 "This Unholy Rebellion" -- Part III Into the Mainstream (1866-1899) -- 11 Peddlers in Top Hats -- 12 The "Our Dear Babette" Syndrome -- 13 "Getting Our Feet Wet" -- 14 "The D-d Railroads!"15 "My Bank" -- 16 The Assimilationists -- 17 "The Haughty and Purse-Proud Rothschilds" -- 18 The Seligman-Hilton Affair -- Part IV The Age of Schiff -- 19 "A Complex Oriental Nature" -- 20 "Your Loving Kuhn, Loeb & Company" -- 21 The Emerging Giants -- 22 Mr. Schiff vs. Mr. Loeb -- 23 Portrait of a Father -- 24 The Mittelweg Warburgs -- 25 Marriage, Schiff Style -- 26 "The Battle of the Giants" -- 27 "Der Reiche Lewisohn" -- 28 The Poor Man's Metal -- 29 Further Adventures Underground -- 30 Twilight of a Banker -- 31 The Ladies -- 32 Sons, Doubters, Rebels33 Elberon, and Points North and South -- 34 The Guggenheim-Lewisohn Battle -- 35 Monsieur Journet's Nightgown -- 36 The Great Battle of 1109 Fifth Avenue -- 37 "Witty and Interesting Personalities" -- 38 The Equitable Life Affair -- 39 "I Enclose My Check for 2,000,000 …" -- 40 The "Sinister Transmutation" -- 41 Calamities and Solutions -- 42 The Rise of a House of Issue -- 43 "Pflicht und Arbeit" -- Part V New York 21, N.Y. -- 44 The End of a Line -- 45 The Fall, and After -- 46 The End of a Dream -- 47 Where Are They Now? -- 48 "Familiengefühl" … and No Bare Feet at Dinner -- IndexAbout the Author -- Copyright Page