[.ca] Morgan: American Financier (ISBN 1417702265)

From Amazon.com:
As Americans cope with the social and industrial changes wrought by the computer age, we seem ready to view with more sympathy the men who shaped the similarly disruptive economic revolution at the turn of the last century. Less than a year after Titan, Ron Chernow's sweeping biography of capitalist par excellence John D. Rockefeller, comes Jean Strouse's searching analysis of J.P. Morgan (1837-1913), the merchant banker whose financial prowess enabled the great American businesses to grow and thrive. Like Chernow, Strouse takes a nuanced view of a man reviled by his contemporaries as a sinister monopolist. Morgan sought to stabilize the volatile American economy and raise the cash needed to fuel its meteoric expansion. His methods were controversial, particularly his fondness for industrial "combinations" that dampened competition, but Strouse's lucid résumé of the historical backdrop illuminates the thinking behind Morgan's actions. As in her groundbreaking biography Alice James, the author never settles for received wisdom, instead reading previously neglected documents with a sharp eye to offer a fresh interpretation. She vividly limns Morgan's imperious personality and such extracurricular interests as his superb art collection. But it's Strouse's ability to clearly convey complex financial material that distinguishes this book. Her chapter on the panic of 1907, which Morgan was instrumental in halting, is as exciting as a good thriller and far more instructive. --Wendy Smith

Thorough Biography:
Jean Strouse's thorough biography on J.P. Morgan was...thorough. Strouse must have gone through a tremendous amount of work to put together this almost 700-page book. The result of her toil was an in-depth study of J.P. Morgan's life. The biography is divided into four parts, which makes it easier if one would prefer to skip around and concentrate on only certain aspects of Morgan's life and career. I most enjoyed Part I, which discussed the formation of his character. This section went through extreme detail of his parents and his childhood. What a surprise to learn that Morgan was a relation to Jonathan Edwards and Aaron Burr! Even though the biography was a great length and did become rather boring at parts, it is a must read for those who wish to learn more about J.P. Morgan. Without him, America would not be what it is today.

Morgan: American Financier:
The presence of J.P. Morgan looms large over the financial and economic landscape of the Gilded Age. Either castigated for wielding economic clout or praised for providing stability to the industrial order, Morgan has remained a mystery. Although recent scholars V. Carosso and R. Chernow have studied the financial activities of the House of Morgan, there have been few biographies of Morgan. Making use of new archive sources and the extensive collection of Morgan materials in the Pierpont Morgan Library, Strouse fills this void with a masterful biography. She carefully depicts Morgan's taciturn personality, his financial tutelage under a critical father, and his relations with both wives and his children. Strouse provides a balanced evaluation of Morgan's financial activities, carefully articulating his role as the nation's unofficial central banker. He attracted European capital to American enterprises, organized new corporations to promote efficiency, consolidated bankrupt railroads, worked to stabilize financial markets when crises arose, and established new business structures. While Morgan was frequently demonized for his activities, Strouse argues that he often acted in the nation's best interests (and his own). His role as art collector is also examined. Students of the Gilded Age will find this biography essential reading. Highly recommended for all economic and business history collections.

History is subject to a tyranny of the articulate:
JP Morgan ruled finance like Napoleon or Caesar ruled the battlefield, but he could never express himself clearly. On a good day he was about as eloquent as George W. Bush. Yet he would see what needed to be done and do it; words never entered the process. This theme runs through Ms. Strouse's book (the review's title is a quote). Yet Morgan's inability to clearly express himself in no way affected his ability to understand his work. Ms. Strouse wrote a beautifully ironic book: an eloquent elegy to an inarticulate leader, and this way voicing in her biography what Morgan could not himself express. The book gives serious readers a refreshing dose of humility; it is a welcome argument on why we need to look beyond the sound bite when evaluating today's leaders (such as GWB, like him or not).

A in-depth look at America's financial genius:
In her book, "Morgan: American Financier" Jean Strouse has made a bold attempt to capture the essence of the man whose ideas shaped America's economy from the Civil War up through, at least, the New Deal. While the style of the writing of "Morgan: American Financier" may seem "dry", we have to remember that Ms. Strouse is not writing a biography of a colorful person like Nellie Bly or William Randolph Hearst. Still, she captures the tensions behind high-stake financing, plutocratic rivalries (Morgan vs. Andrew Carnegie, for example), and the ambitious attempt to rein in the wild speculation of railroad magnates. What makes the text of this book engaging for those not inclined to read these types of biographies, is that Strouse never lets you forget how much is at stake, not just in terms of dollars but in terms of the future of America's economic stability and growth. For me, the chapters on JP Morgan's relationship with his father, Junius, and the internal struggles he had with traditional financing versus the role of financer as corporate director were at times touching and admirable. Specifically, the chapters entitled "Family Affairs and Professional Ethics" and "Fathers and Sons" were the most successful and enjoyable. Bottom line: if you enjoy biographies/histories of the people who shaped American capitalism, this is a wonderful book. But even if that isn't your cup of tea, there is a lot of the human element to make this great reading.

A Decent Biography:
Jean Strouse has tackled a fascinating biographical subject in this book, John Pierpont Morgan. Morgan was the kingpin of the fledging American financial industry from before the Civil War until his death just before World War I. Morgan's firm helped to bring European capital to the United States that helped financial the great industrial boom of the later 19th Century and constructed huge corporate mergers like U.S. Steel in 1901. Morgan's sound financial dealing led to be highly respected both on Wall Street and off. In 1907, his stature with leading financial institutions helped him engineer a stop to a panic that threatened Wall Street. Morgan was an extremely wealthly man and later in life used that wealth to finance the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to build his own extensive art collection. Morgan had more of a European attitude toward marriage and after his own marriage began to deteriorate in 1880 or so, kept mistresses for the remainder of his life. He was also very involved with the Episcopal Church, taking three weeks out of his busy schedule every three years to attend the Church meetings, and in yachting, helping to finance several America's Cup winners. Strouse obviously spent a tremendous amout of time researching her subject. In an interview she said that she had gained access to previously untapped copies of letters and diaries of both Morgan and his inner circle. Her book details Morgan's life in almost painstaking detail - from his financial dealings to his art acquisitions to his affairs to his relationship with his father. The author also does a good job and giving us background information about the period in which Morgan lived - the social conditions, the progressive movement and various presidential elections. This is important because all of these factors effected how Morgan conducted his business and how he was viewed by the press and public at the time. Unfortunately, for all of her research, this is not a very readable biography. The writing is some what bland and uncolorful. The author does a serviceable job trying to explain the complex financial dealings that ruled Morgan's world but often bogs the reader down in figures. I felt as if I needed a degree in finance just to understand the way Morgan shifted around stocks and bonds. It was push for me to finish this book, often times I had trouble wanting to pick it up and continue. There are few recent biographies of this important 19th century character available, which is why I was excited when I saw Strouse's biography of Morgan. Morgan is a man shrouded in the myth and legend of his financial dealings and I was hoping this biography would shed some light on the man. One cannot fault Strouse's extensive research into her subject however her writing style bogs down the information and makes the book difficult to complete.