Nonfiction

The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire

The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire

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  • Create Date：2022-10-23 17:21:40
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Joseph Sassoon
  • ISBN：0593316592
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Summary

A spectacular generational saga of the making （and undoing） of a family dynasty: the riveting untold story of the gilded Jewish Bagdadi Sassoons， who built a vast empire through global finance and trade--cotton， opium， shipping， banking--that reached across three continents and ultimately changed the destinies of nations。 With full access to rare family photographs and archives。

They were one of the richest families in the world for two hundred years， from the 19th century to the 20th， and were known as 'the Rothschilds of the East。'

Mesopotamian in origin， and for more than forty years the chief treasurers to the pashas of Baghdad and Basra， they were forced to flee to Bushir on the Persian Gulf; David Sassoon and sons starting over with nothing， and beginning to trade in India in cotton and opium。

The Sassoons soon were building textile mills and factories， and setting up branches in shipping in China， and expanding beyond， to Japan， and further west， to Paris and London。 They became members of British parliament; were knighted; and owned and edited Britain's leading newspapers， including The Sunday Times and The Observer。

And in 1887， the exalted dynasty of Sassoon joined forces with the banking empire of Rothschild and were soon joined by marriage， fusing together two of the biggest Jewish commerce and banking families in the world。

Against the monumental canvas of two centuries of the Ottoman Empire and the changing face of the Far East， across Europe and Great Britain during the time of its farthest reach， Joseph Sassoon gives us a riveting generational saga of the making of this magnificent family dynasty。

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Reviews

Michael Hassel Shearer ，

The Sassoons : The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire by Joseph SassoonI found this an interesting but difficult book to follow。 I don’t believe this is completely the fault of the author。 The Sassoon family was large with many children （ up to 15 I believe） with little creativity in names so it became difficult to remember which “David” was witch。 This is a story of a Baghdadi Jewish family that sought to make money and first moved to India。 There first major business opportunit The Sassoons : The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire by Joseph SassoonI found this an interesting but difficult book to follow。 I don’t believe this is completely the fault of the author。 The Sassoon family was large with many children （ up to 15 I believe） with little creativity in names so it became difficult to remember which “David” was witch。 This is a story of a Baghdadi Jewish family that sought to make money and first moved to India。 There first major business opportunity was opium which makes them not a family to be loved in my mind。 They also move into cotton and then the manufacture of fabrics from the cotton with mills in India。 What was an interesting part of the book was the price of cotton fluctuated due to the Civil War in America。 Most of their money was made as merchant traders and as a result this meant being very astute or lucking in forecast currency swings as well as over or under supply of say opium。 An interesting point made by the author was during the 1860’s the Sassoons were a global business but communication links were still very slow。 Thus， getting correct and trusted information as quickly as possible was a benefit to profit and the Sassoons large family scattered all over the Middle East， India and China was a significant advantage。 However just as Thomas Piketty has mentioned in his books the 3rd generation in wealth tends to lose it。 This is certainly the case here as many of the branches of the family chose to buy property in the UK attempt to become “English” and lived off the profits without assisting in the growth of the company。 Combine this with opium being banned， WW II and the loss of their property in Shanghai and the independence of India and the company slowly died。 Today there are still Sassoons as is the author but no company and most of the wealth is gone。 I am glad I read the book but I must let you know this is not a family to love in part of their business and in part to so many characters over nearly 200 years。 。。。more

Lisa ，

I loved this one。 Our next week！

Sara ，

A fascinating account of a successful Jewish family。 I was very interested to hear of their lives in countries that I've never had a chance to visit。 This book is an important addition to Jewish history and should be treasured for that。 I suspect that it could have been even longer and more detailed， but I appreciate the research that went into this by the author， who had good reason to write this book！Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book。 It's an important one。 A fascinating account of a successful Jewish family。 I was very interested to hear of their lives in countries that I've never had a chance to visit。 This book is an important addition to Jewish history and should be treasured for that。 I suspect that it could have been even longer and more detailed， but I appreciate the research that went into this by the author， who had good reason to write this book！Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book。 It's an important one。 。。。more

Flora ，

The only Sassoon I have ever been aware of was the maker of hair products， so I thought this would make a very interesting book about the family who seems to have made quite a big splash in the business world in the past。 I was rather disappointed then that this was less a biography of a family and more a record of their economic activities。I still marvelled at how business was carried out in an Internet-less and airplane-less world， and was particularly amazed and appalled at how easy it was to The only Sassoon I have ever been aware of was the maker of hair products， so I thought this would make a very interesting book about the family who seems to have made quite a big splash in the business world in the past。 I was rather disappointed then that this was less a biography of a family and more a record of their economic activities。I still marvelled at how business was carried out in an Internet-less and airplane-less world， and was particularly amazed and appalled at how easy it was to sell opium。Not quite for me but those interested in the history of world trade， particularly of a Jewish family， would probably find it of value。3 and a half stars from me。 。。。more

Candace ，

The SassoonsToday， Vidal Sassoon may be the only Sassoon people have heard about （some may know the poet Siegfried Sassoon） but in the 19th century they family was one of the wealthiest in the world。 A family of astute and brilliant traders， they ended up with nothing after the takeover of the Communists in China。James Sassoon tells the story of his family and how difficult it is to pass wealth from generation to generation。 David Sassoon was a leader in the Baghdadi Jewish community， building a The SassoonsToday， Vidal Sassoon may be the only Sassoon people have heard about （some may know the poet Siegfried Sassoon） but in the 19th century they family was one of the wealthiest in the world。 A family of astute and brilliant traders， they ended up with nothing after the takeover of the Communists in China。James Sassoon tells the story of his family and how difficult it is to pass wealth from generation to generation。 David Sassoon was a leader in the Baghdadi Jewish community， building a thriving business and serving as treasurer to pashas。 But prejudice was building against Jews in Iraq and the Sassoons moved to Mumbai in the early 19th century。 There， they established massive businesses in opium and textiles。 David Sassoon was a brilliant businessman， earning the esteem of the British （even though he spoke little English） and becoming a civic-minded pillar of the business community。 He focused on China and Hong King， sending several of his sons to England for school。 When he died things began to unravel as his sons began to squabble and the network of personal connections he had built frayed。 By the 20th century his descendants were part of the British social world， more interested in playing polo than keeping a finger on the pulse of world trade。 Most of “The Sassoons” is pretty interesting， showing us how businesses worked in the Orthodox world of Iraq and India， how veering from that path brought disaster。 James Sassoon’s writing style is spare and frank， and the book could have benefitted from more personal stories about the family， especially David。 The feeling is that we don’t know much about these people even though they wrote a gazillion letters， every day， all the time， to everyone。 These were written in a Baghdadi Jewish dialect which might be hard to decipher， but it’s hard to imagine there’s so little source material about such a prominent family。Still， it’s a look at the rise and fall of a powerful family， plus the glimpse at the working of 19th century Indian and middle-eastern commerce。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0