Guggenheims: A Family History
By Debi Unger and Irwin Unger
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
A portrait of a great American dynasty and its legacy in business, technology, the arts, and philanthropy
Meyer Guggenheim, a Swiss immigrant, founded a great American business dynasty. At their peak in the early twentieth century, the Guggenheims were reckoned among America's wealthiest, and the richest Jewish family in the world after the Rothschilds. They belonged to Our Crowd, that tight social circle of New York Jewish plutocrats, but unlike the others -- primarily merchants and financiers -- they made their money by extracting and refining copper, silver, lead, tin, and gold.
The secret of their success, the patriarch believed, was their unity, and in the early years Meyer's seven sons, under the leadership of Daniel, worked as one to expand their growing mining and smelting empire. Family solidarity eventually decayed (along with their Jewish faith), but even more damaging was the paucity of male heirs as Meyer and the original set of brothers passed from the scene.
In the third generation, Harry Guggenheim, Daniel's son, took over leadership and made the family a force in aviation, publishing, and horse-racing. He desperately sought a successor but tragically failed and was forced to watch as the great Guggenheim business enterprise crumbled.
Meanwhile, "Guggenheim" came to mean art more than industry. In the mid-twentieth century, led by Meyer's son Solomon and Solomon's niece Peggy, the Guggenheims became the agents of modernism in the visual arts. Peggy, in America during the war years, midwifed the school of abstract expressionism, which brought art leadership to New York City. Solomon's museum has been innovative in spreading the riches of Western art around the world. After the generation of Harry and Peggy, the family has continued to produce many accomplished members, such as publisher Roger Straus II and archaeologist Iris Love.
In The Guggenheims, through meticulous research and absorbing prose, Irwin Unger, the winner of a Pulitzer Prize in history, and his wife, Debi Unger, convey a unique and remarkable story -- epic in its scope -- of one family's amazing rise to prominence.
Debi Unger
Together Irwin and Debi Unger have authored LBJ: A Life and several other books. They live in New York City.
Read more from Debi Unger
George Marshall: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guggenheims: A Family History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Guggenheims
Related ebooks
Entangled Entertainers: Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMods, Minis, and Madmen: A True Tale of Swinging London Culture in the 1960S Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInvisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Playboy Swings: How Hugh Hefner and Playboy Changed the Face of Music Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Jacob Astor: America's First Multimillionaire Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ironwood, Hurley, and the Gogebic Range Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Garrets and Pretenders: Bohemian Life in America from Poe to Kerouac Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In the Godfather Garden: The Long Life and Times of Richie "the Boot" Boiardo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rothman Scandal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chattanooga Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Westside Chronicles: Historic Stories of West Los Angeles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRace and Change in Hollywood, Florida Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Essays on the Presidents: Principles and Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Roaring Twenties: Discover the Era of Prohibition, Flappers, and Jazz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marion County in Vintage Postcards Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51920 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5West Palm Beach: 1893 to 1950 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlorida's Grand Hotels from the Gilded Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating New Yorkers: Power Freaks, Mobsters, Liberated Women, Creators, Queers and Crazies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica Observed: From the 1940s to the 1980s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Batu Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Young Errol: Flynn Before Hollywood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hymn for Eternity: The Story of Wallace Hartley, Titanic Bandmaster Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSt. Marys and Camden County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Pierpont Morgan: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Historic Photos of Chicago Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the Chouteaus, the French Dynasty That Ruled America's Frontier Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sinatra and Me: The Very Good Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Eating Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World's Most Beloved Neighbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Rediscovered Books): A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Guggenheims
3 ratings0 reviews