The Last Partnerships: Inside the Great Wall Street Dynasties [Hardcover]

Charles R. Geisst (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2001

They laid the foundations of American finance and defined the American brand of capitalism. They bankrolled wars, were the impetus behind the building of the first transcontinental railroad system, and fueled a fledgling nation’s grandiose dreams of empire. S&M Allen, J. P. Morgan & Co., Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers...they were the great Wall Street partnerships, and for well over a century, through a combination of financial genius, political chicanery, and the audacity of Caesars, they wielded unprecedented influence over the business, financial, and political landscapes of a nation. The Last Partnerships combines rigorous scholarship with journalism at its best to present a panoramic history of the rise and fall of the great financial houses—from the “Yankee Bankers,” at the turn of the 19th century, up to Goldman Sachs’ historic IPO in 1999—tracing their origins, their successes and failures over the years, and the reasons for their ultimate demise. The Last Partnerships is must-reading for history buffs and everyone interested in the world of finance behind the business-page headlines.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the subtitle, this book doesn't throw wide the back-room doors of major investment banking and brokerage firms like Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers. Instead, it provides a general history of Wall Street, organized in chronological chapters, each featuring two famous houses. The first chapter covers 1812 to 1873, focusing on Clark Dodge and Jay Cooke. The last chapter runs from the 1930s to the present, featuring Lazard Freres and Goldman Sachs. Most of the material can be found in the author's previous works, 100 Years of Wall Street and Wall Street: A History. This reorganization might have yielded new insights had it shown how certain firms helped shape their time and place, and vice versa, or perhaps if it had focussed on the passing of the torch from era to era. As it stands, Ron Chernow's The Death of the Banker and Martin Mayer's The Bankers and even Geisst's previous works are more compelling and better written. Still, Geisst has more understanding of finance than most popular financial historians; despite the drawbacks of this Wall Street history, it represents the various firms fairly and aptly.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Geisst (Wall Street: A History; Monopolies in America: Empire Builders and their Enemies from Jay Gould to Bill Gates) here provides a history of U.S. investment banking over the past 200 years. As the title indicates, investment banking has shifted from partnership activity to corporate ownership. Geisst creditably describes the forces at work in the creation of capital, providing some sociological context through ethnicity and gender issues. Geisst accounts for a number of factors that have caused investment banking to undergo a sea change: increasingly high dollar amounts, the ability of inexperienced traders to bankrupt firms, and the demise of relationship banking. He shows how cutthroat competition changed investment banking from a business based on relationships to one based on the deal itself. This book's appeal will be limited to those interested in financial history. Steven Silkunas, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071369996
• ISBN-13: 978-0071369992
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles R. Geisst has written eighteen books on finance and economics, which have been translated into eight languages. His books have been on the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and New York Times best-seller lists. Geisst is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, where he is valued for his opinions on finance and business. He holds the Ambassador Charles A. Gargano Chair in Global Economics at Manhattan College.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Barely A Summertime Beach Read, April 25, 2002

By 

"johnthebarkeep" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Partnerships: Inside the Great Wall Street Dynasties (Hardcover)

In retrospect, I should have expected this book to be as poorly written as it is. In the course of 300 pages, Professor Geisst attempts to provide the history of approximately 17 banking houses --- which translate into about 18 pages per house. (As a comparison -- Ron Chernow dedicated over 700 pages to the Morgan dynasty in his book. Imagine trying to condense that down into 18 pages). To call such treatments superficial is an understatement. Additionally, the book suffers from organizational flaws, particularly toward the beginning of the work. One even wonders if significant portions of The Last Partnerships were merely taken from Geisst's earlier work, Wall Street: A History, and shuffled around to create a new book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent history, April 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Partnerships: Inside the Great Wall Street Dynasties (Hardcover)

I bought this book after I saw that Booklist named it one of the top ten business books of 2001. It divides each chapter into two parts, each dealing with two investment banking houses that were similar or closely related somehow.The result is excellent. The histories are clear, concise and full of color. Good anecdotes are put in boxes that complement the text. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in Wall Street.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Wall Street History, May 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Partnerships: Inside the Great Wall Street Dynasties (Hardcover)

This is a great piece of micro Wall Street history. The author looks at the financial district from street level, from the perspective of the Wall Street houses themselves.The stories range from good to fascinating and the asides in some chapters are great anecdotes. How the houses succeeded and why they ultimately dispapeared as partnerships is a great story and it is well told here. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in finance and history.