Gold and iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder, and the building of the German Empire

Winner of the Lionel Trilling Award Nominated for the National Book Award This is a book about Germans and Jews, about power and money. It is a book focused on Bismarck and Bleichröder, Junker and Jew, statesman and banker, collaborators for over thirty years. The setting is that of a Germany where two worlds clashed: the new world of capitalism and an earlier world with its ancient feudal ethos; gradually a new and broadened elite emerged, and Bismarck's tie with Bleichröder epitomized that regrouping. (From the Introduction.) Winner of the Lionel Trilling Award
Nominated for the National Book Award
“A major contribution to our understanding of some of the great themes of modern European history—the relations between Jews and Germans, between economics and politics, between banking and diplomacy.” —James Joll, The New York Times Book Review
“I cannot praise this book too highly. It is a work of original scholarship, both exact and profound. It restores a buried chapter of history and penetrates, with insight and understanding, one of the most disturbing historical problems of modern times.” —Hugh J. Trevor-Roper, London Sunday Times
“[An] extraordinary book, an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century.” —Stanley Hoffman, Washington Post Book World
“One of the most important historical works of the past few decades.” —Golo Mann
“In many ways this book resembles the great nineteenth-century novels.” —The Economist Contents Illustrations Guide to Abbreviations Introduction Part One: The Hazardous Rise, 1859-1871 1 First Encounter: Junker and Jew 2 Bismarck’s Struggle for Survival 3 Between the Throne and the Gallows 4 A Banker’s Share in Bismarck’s Triumph 5 Bismarck’s Purse and Bleichröder’s Place 6 The Third War 7 Hubris in Versailles Part Two: Banker for an Empire 8 A New Baron in a New Berlin 9 Imperial Style in Politics and Economics 10 Greed and Intrigue 11 The Fourth Estate 12 The Prince Enriched 13 The World of Banking and Diplomacy 14 Rumania: The Triumph of Expediency 15 The Reluctant Colonialist 16 The Fall of Bismarck Part Three: The Anguish of Assimilation 17 The Jew as Patriotic Parvenu 18 The Hostage, of the New Anti-Semitism 19 The Embittered End Epilogue: The Fall of a Family Notes Acknowledgments Bibliography Index This is a book about Germans and Jews, about power and money. It is a book focused on Bismarck and Bleichröder, Junker and Jew, statesman and banker, collaborators for over thirty years. The setting is that of a Germany where two worlds clashed: the new world of capitalism and an earlier world with its ancient feudal ethos; gradually a new and broadened elite emerged, and Bismarck's tie with Bleichröder epitomized that regrouping. It is the story of the founding of the new German Empire, in whose midst a Jewish minority rose to embattled prominence