The Global Merchants

Sep 22, 2024 1:30 AM

Author:Joseph Sassoon

The astonishing story of the Sassoons, one of the nineteenth century's preeminent commercial families and 'the Rothschilds of the East'

The Sassoons were one of the great business dynasties of the nineteenth century, as eminent as traders as the Rothschilds were bankers. This book reveals the secrets behind the family's phenomenal success: how a handful of Jewish exiles from Ottoman Baghdad forged a mercantile juggernaut from their new home in colonial Bombay, the vast network of agents, informants and politicians they built, and the way they came to bridge East and West, culturally as well as commercially. As one competitor remarked, 'silver and gold, silks, gums and spices, opium and cotton, wool and wheat - whatever moves over sea or land feels the hand or bears the mark of Sassoon & Co.'

Drawing for the first time on the vast family archives, Joseph Sassoon brings vividly to life a succession of remarkable characters. From a single generation: Flora, the first woman to steer a major global business, Siegfried, the poet, and Victor, the tycoon who drew the stars of Hollywood's silent era to his skyscraper in Shanghai. Through the lives these ambitious figures built for themselves in London, Bombay and beyond, the reader is drawn into a captivating world of politics and power, innovation and intrigue, high society and empire.

The Global Merchants is thus at once an intimate portrait of a single family and a panorama of the hundred and thirty years of their prominence: from the Opium Wars and opening of China to the American Civil War, the establishment of the British Raj to India's independence. Together these give a fresh perspective on the evolution of one of the defining forces of their age and the present: globalization. The Sassoons were variously its agents, advocates and casualties, and watching them moving through the world, we perceive the making of our own.

Reviews

A tale reminiscent of Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks ... Not only is this a powerful human story but it also carries contemporary resonance in a time when great fortunes are again being made

—— Stefan Wagstyl , Financial Times

The engrossing story of the meteoric rise and calamitous fall of the Sassoons, set against the backdrop of peak British imperialism ... what a scintillating show it was while it lasted, as this vivid and richly researched book reveals

—— Justin Marozzi , The Sunday Times

A very readable, sensitive and original account of a remarkable family, deftly weaving together the history of the business, the history of the family and their place in the wider history of Britain, India and China

—— David Abulafia , Spectator

Logan Roy might do well to read The Global Merchants for tips ... a tale of commercial derring-do and dissection of the paperwork, the exigencies of calm, but rapid, decision-making that could could lead to boom or bust

—— Paul French , South Morning China Post

An unputdownable post-mortem of the freakiest tale of pandemic-age finance - and of how investing became gamified. Jakab speaks with the key characters and highlights the structural issues, deploys the nihilistic "degen" jargon and recounts priceless anecdotes, cutting through the narrative to tell us what really happened during the GameStop short squeeze

—— Gian M. Volpicelli, Senior Writer, Wired

A gripping account of the social movement that took over the investing world in 2020-2021. The heroes here thought they were sticking it to the man, but became the man's stick. Jakab tells this story with warmth and humor, making financial concepts accessible to a lay audience. You will be entertained.

—— Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, and New York Times bestselling author of The Four and Post Corona

A timely and hugely important book. The GameStop saga shows what happens when the little guy takes on Wall Street at its own game: there can only be one winner. Spencer Jakab is a top-drawer journalist who understands this industry inside out. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

—— Robin Powell, journalist, author and editor of The Evidence-Based Investor

An important look at how markets - and people - defy prediction and occasionally lose their minds.

—— Morgan Housel, bestselling author of The Psychology of Money

When an ailing video games retailer saw its shares soar into the stratosphere for no reason other than that newbie traders wanted to put one over on arrogant hedge funds, it was hard not to cheer David's felling of Goliath. But in this meticulous examination of the Gamestop saga, Spencer Jakab reminds us of a simple truth - the house, or in this case Wall Street, always wins in the end.

—— Rory Cellan-Jones, former BBC technology correspondent

Thrumming narrative ... Anybody who buys and sells stocks, and anyone who "invests" in anything old or new, should read this book.

—— Los Angeles Times

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