OUR CROWD: THE GREAT JEWISH FAMILIES oF NY

OUR CROWD: THE GREAT JEWISH FAMILIES oF NY    STEPHEN BIRMINGHAM

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. 

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This book about the Jewish families, Sachs, Lobe, Straus, Belmont, Guggenheim, and many other Jewish families that lived in the upper crust of New York. Who they did business and how the families even married because if the families were into banking or other finical doings it stayed in both families. It was the same with jewelry and others. This is about how families stayed together that had wealth and how they did not associate with lower class Jewish families either. This is a very fascinating book that is a reprint and is a good read. It can be a little long if you are not into history or even social history of the past. For this was a good book. I got this book from netgalley. I give this 4 stars.  Follow us at: 
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