Inside money : Brown Brothers Harriman and the American way of power / Zachary Karabell.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Penguin Press, 2021Description: viii, 438 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781594206610
- 1594206619
- Brown Brothers & Company -- History
- Brown Brothers, Harriman & Co. -- History
- Private banks -- New York (State) -- New York -- History
- Private banks -- United States -- History
- Investment banking -- United States -- History
- Merchant banks -- United States -- History
- Banks and banking -- Political aspects -- United States -- History
- Capitalism -- United States -- History
- United States -- Economic conditions
- United States -- Foreign economic relations
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 332.123 K18 | Available | 33111010516892 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Conspiracy theories have always swirled around Brown Brothers Harriman, and not without reason. Throughout the nineteenth century, when America was convulsed by a devastating financial panic essentially every twenty years, Brown Brothers quietly went from strength to strength, propping up the U.S. financial system at crucial moments and catalyzing successive booms, from the cotton trade and the steamship to the railroad, while largely managing to avoid the unwelcome attention that plagued some of its competitors. By the turn of the twentieth century, Brown Brothers was unquestionably at the heart of what was meant by an American Establishment. As America's reach extended beyond its shores, Brown Brothers worked hand in glove with the State Department, notably in Nicaragua in the early twentieth century, where the firm essentially took over the country's economy. To the Brown family, the virtue of their dealings was a given; their form of muscular Protestantism, forged on the playing fields of Groton and Yale, was the acme of civilization, and it was their duty to import that civilization to the world. When, during the Great Depression, Brown Brothers ensured their strength by merging with Averell Harriman's investment bank to form Brown Brothers Harriman, the die was cast for the role the firm would play on the global stage during World War II and thereafter, as its partners served at the highest levels of government to shape the international system that defines the world to this day. In Inside Money, acclaimed historian, commentator, and former financial executive Zachary Karabell offers the first full and frank look inside this institution against the backdrop of American history. Blessed with complete access to the company's archives, as well as a thrilling understanding of the larger forces at play, Karabell has created an X-ray of American power - financial, political, cultural - as it has evolved from the early 1800s to the present. Today, unlike many of its competitors, Brown Brothers Harriman remains a private partnership and a beacon of sustainable capitalism, having forgone the heady speculative upsides of the past thirty years but also having avoided any role in the devastating downsides. The firm is no longer in the command capsule of the American economy, but, arguably, that is to its credit. If its partners cleaved to any one adage over the generations, it is that a relentless pursuit of more can destroy more than it creates.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-425) and index.
Coming to America -- The B&O -- Everybody is speculating -- Dreams of the Arctic -- A very Civil War -- A nice sense of commercial honor -- Nothing is impossible -- The Republic of Brown Brothers -- Saving money -- The tapped -- The business of America -- From the ashes -- "We were very hard workers" -- A call to service -- The wise men -- In the valley -- When is enough enough?
"From an acclaimed historian and financial analyst, the first definitive history of the legendary private investment firm Brown Brothers Harriman - and through it, the rise to world power of the so-called American Establishment. Conspiracy theories have always swirled around Brown Brothers Harriman, and not without reason. Throughout the 19th century, when America was convulsed by a devastating financial panic every generation, Brown Brothers quietly went from strength to strength, propping up the US financial system at crucial moments and catalyzing successive booms, from the cotton trade and the steam ship to the railroad, while avoiding unwelcome attention. By the turn of the 20th century, Brown Brothers was at the heart of what was meant by the American Establishment. As America's reach extended beyond its shores, Brown Brothers was there, often working hand in glove with the State Department, as in Nicaragua in the 1910's, when the firm was essentially empowered to take over the country's economy. To the Browns, virtuousness was a given; in that spirit they supported the elite institutions that forged successive generations of leaders. When, during the Great Depression, Brown Brothers ensured their strength by merging with Averell Harriman's investment bank to form Brown Brothers Harriman, the die was cast for the role the firm would play on the world stage during World War 2 and thereafter. Its core leadership cadre, including Harriman, Robert Lovett, and Prescott Bush, all Skull and Bones men from Yale, played a central role in erecting the architecture of the postwar order, with the US dollar at its heart. In Inside Money, Zachary Karabell offers the first full and frank look inside this very private institution as a prime mover in the larger American story. Blessed with complete access to the company's archives and a thrillingly strong grasp of the bigger picture, Karabell has written in effect an x-ray film of American power from 1818 to the present"-- Provided by publisher.