This is a weakness of Chernow’s account, which paints this world in only the broadest of brushstrokes. Most readers, especially those who grew up in the developed world in the late twentieth century, are likely to find alien the idea of a world in which capital is scarce, financial markets are shallow and regional, and in which almost insurmountable information asymmetries exist. Yet, I cannot help but feel that the modern reader, unless aware of the broad sweep of financial history, will be at a loss. To be fair to Chernow, he is writing about an incredible span of history, one that filled some 850 pages in the paperback edition, and this magisterial account was written in approximately two and a half years, which certainly does not allow for an in-depth examination of the economic and financial millieu. This period deserves more than what Chernow is able to devote to it. There is something almost too facile in his descriptions of the 19th century, described simply as an era of new businesses that required capital far beyond the resources of any wealthy individual or family.

The account is full of little details that highlight that these people were human: Peabody’s vindictiveness and miserliness towards specific individuals while pursuing grand acts of philanthropy, the way that Junius Spencer Morgan had all his son Pierpont’s letters on political and economic conditions in America bound and set on his shelf, Pierpont’s attention to appropriate attire (a bowler in winter, a Panama hat in summer), and Jack’s retainers snipping Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s photos from Jack’s morning paper, in deference to his high blood pressure and hatred of Roosevelt.Ĭhernow is, however, less adroit at delving into the economic and financial millieu that these individuals inhabited. A Review of Ron Chernow’s House of MorganĬhernow does an exemplary job of capturing the personalities of his subjects: he brings to vivid life such individuals as Junius Spencer Morgan, George Peabody, and of course, John Pierpont Morgan himself.

The house of morgan by ron chernow