The Women of Rothschild
The Untold Story of the World's Most Famous Dynasty
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
In The Women of Rothschild, Natalie Livingstone reveals the role of women in shaping the legacy of the famous Rothschild dynasty, synonymous with wealth and power.
From the East End of London to the Eastern seaboard of the United States, from Spitalfields to Scottish castles, from Bletchley Park to Buchenwald, and from the Vatican to Palestine, Natalie Livingstone follows the extraordinary lives of the Rothschild women from the dawn of the nineteenth century to the early years of the twenty-first.
As Jews in a Christian society and women in a deeply patriarchal family, they were outsiders. Excluded from the family bank, they forged their own distinct dynasty of daughters and nieces, mothers and aunts. They became influential hostesses and talented diplomats, choreographing electoral campaigns, advising prime ministers, advocating for social reform, and trading on the stock exchange. Misfits and conformists, conservatives and idealists, performers and introverts, they mixed with everyone from Queen Victoria to Chaim Weizmann, Rossini to Isaiah Berlin, and the Duke of Wellington to Alec Guinness, as well as with amphetamine-dealers, suffragists and avant-garde artists. Rothschild women helped bring down ghetto walls in early nineteenth-century Frankfurt, inspired some of the most remarkable cultural movements of the Victorian period, and in the mid-twentieth century burst into America, where they patronized Thelonious Monk and drag-raced through Manhattan with Miles Davis.
Absorbing and compulsive, The Women of Rothschild gives voice to the complicated, privileged, and gifted women whose vision and tenacity shaped history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Livingstone (The Mistresses of Cliveden) delivers a comprehensive and colorful group biography of the women of the Rothschild dynasty. The family tree begins with matriarch Gutle Schnapper (1753–1849), whose dowry enabled her husband, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, to start building the family's banking empire. The mother of five boys and five girls, Gutle's female descendants spread across Europe, hobnobbing with prime ministers and celebrities, lobbying popes and rabbis for social reform, and even breaking Nazi codes at Bletchley Park. The most recent generations profiled include entomologist Miriam Rothschild (1908–2005), known the "Queen of Fleas"; her sister Nica (1913–1988), a patron of jazz musicians including Thelonious Monk; and her daughter Rosie (1945–2010), a psychotherapist and feminist art historian. Livingstone expertly mines diaries, memoirs, and letters for vivid anecdotes, including Miriam's description of her and her siblings' romantic suitors as "erotic appendages," and illuminates how her subjects pushed back against anti-Semitism and their family's "male culture" to take their place in the world. This sparkling history is full of riches.
Customer Reviews
Highly Recommend!!
This was a very interesting and enjoyable read. Although the name of Rothschild I knew, but all I knew was that they were a very wealthy family and not much more. It was very interesting to read about the women of Rothschild, and how even though they were put in the background, they came to the forefront in many ways. if you like reading about history and famous people, I think you will enjoy this book.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
The Women of Rothschild
The Women of Rothschild The Untold Story of the World's Most Famous Dynasty by Natalie Livingstone is Historical Non Fiction. The Rothchild‘s rise to fame and fortune. A tale of a family's journey led by the strength of women from a German ghetto to English mansions and places all over the world.
We follow the Rothchild family from discrimination and persecution to wealth, influence and power with predictable excess. We read of other family members descending into lifestyles that might have horrified previous generations. The Rothschild women’s story provides many life lessons of how our choices will determine our fate, influence others and may impact future generations.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars