The House of Morgan: A Monkey's Review

”A man has two reasons for the things he does: one that sounds good, and the real one.” - Pierpont Morgan

At over 700 pages, “The House of Morgan” is a book that could be used as a doorstop. But it was a doorstop that made many of my morning commutes pass by, with a riveting combination of history, politics, economics, and finance that tells the story of the world’s most famous American bank.

In a time when most of us don’t think much about finance history except back to the beginning of our careers, books like “The House of Morgan” are more important than ever to get a glimpse of our place in Wall Street history.

Author Ron Chernow has put the legendary House of Morgan in terms we all will hopefully understand: through people. His exhaustive research into private letters and statements especially humanizes Wall Street in a way that few others have matched since its first edition appeared 25 years ago in 1989.

There are the towering, titanic figures of Pierpont Morgan and Jack Morgan, of course. But there are also gentlemen scholars like Tom Lamont, quasi-statesmen who got to interact with the some of the most elite power circles of the age. Talk about a nice job if you could get it.

There are excellent little details all around that you wouldn’t get from other history books--like Jack Morgan reading his grandkids “A Christmas Carol” on Christmas Eve (having purchased Dickens’ original manuscript for it, of course). And this was back in the days when it was still publicly acceptable to say that you wouldn’t do business with firms like Kuhn, Loeb, Sigmund Warburg or Charles Schwab because they were Jewish--which he and his father both did.

“One feels if he could both teach and learn if he could cross the Mississippi frequently and meet the people that largely make up America.” - wrote The New Yorker, referring to Jack.

Right. I’m sure the editors of that magazine travelled out there ALL the time in the ‘30s.

If you’ve actually been to Wall Street the place, many of the historical sights mentioned in the book will be familiar to you: the India House on Hanover Square, a sumptuous dwelling and office built by the early merchants and now home to Harry’s. Nassau Street, along which Pierpont huffed and puffed, a giant black cigar clenched between his teeth, as he organized a rescue for the 1907 panic. And there’s 23 Wall Street itself, the bank’s original headquarters, still bearing the shrapnel and bullet scars from a 1922 bomb blast. The historic building is now a condo, in case you’re wondering.

I found that plenty of Wall Street and political tropes were a lot older than I thought. If you thought populist rage against Wall Street after 2008 was bad, wait till you read about Untermeyer,Pujo, and LaFollette. If you thought massive and quirky art collections were a 90’s hedge-fund-manager deal, wait until you hear what Pierpont spent on HIS art collection. And if you thought what Goldman Sachs did with Greek and Libyan bonds was unprofessional and reprehensible, wait until you hear what Tom Lamont did for Mussolini and for the Imperial Japanese Army.

In the second half of the book, the action shifts to a firm founded in 1935 called Morgan Stanley--which promptly set so many records for the newly-isolated business of “pure investment banking” that people wondered why Glass-Steagall was even passed in the first place. You’ll read about the firm’s role in the birth of the Eurodollar markets in the 1970s and Rule 415. And this is after generous sections on Morgan’s role in railroad issues, wartime financing, junk bonds, trading, and eventually hostile takeovers at various times throughout its history.

The completeness of this generous text cannot be overstated. On its 25th anniversary, “The House of Morgan” calls out for several more chapters about what has happened since it ends on a high note with the 1989 chapter called “Skyscraper.”

Mandatory, mandatory, mandatory. Challenge yourself and read it, monkeys!

Monkey’s Review 1: Barbarians At the Gate
Monkey’s Review 2: The Financier
Monkey’s Review 3: Decision Points
Monkey’s Review 4: Debunkery
Monkey’s Review 5: When Genius Failed
Monkey’s Review 6: Monkey Business
Monkey’s Review 7: Death Of The Banker
Monkey’s Review 8: A Journey
Monkey’s Review 9: Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker
Monkey’s Review 10: The Quants
Monkey’s Review 11: All About Hedge Funds
Monkey’s Review 12: The Unlikely Disciple
Monkey’s Review 13: Adventure Capitalist
Monkey’s Review 14: The Hedge Fund Book
Monkey’s Review 15: Investing In Hedge Fund of Funds
Monkey’s Review 16: Hilarity Ensues
Monkey’s Review 17: The Prince
Monkey’s Review 18: Markets Never Forget (But People Do)
Monkey’s Review 19: The Money Culture
Monkey's Review 20: An Empire of Wealth
Monkey's Review 21: The New Tycoons
Monkey's Review 22: A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity
Monkey's Review 23: Ahead of the Curve (2 Years At HBS)
Monkey's Review 24: How To Be A Gentleman
Monkey's Review 25: Ten Roads to Riches
Monkey's Review 26: The Best of Braverman
Monkey's Review 27: Street Freak
Monkey's Review 28: Kitchen Confidential
Monkey's Review 29: The Buyside

 

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