DEATH OF THE BANKER, THE

　　For anyone interested in the world behind the business-pageheadlines, this is the book to read. --Publishers Weekly
　　With the same breadth of vision and narrative élan he brought tohis monumental biographies of the great financiers, Ron Chernowexamines the forces that made dynasties like the Morgans, theWarburgs, and the Rothschilds the financial arbiters of the earlytwentieth century and then rendered them virtually obsolete by thecentury's end.
　　As he traces the shifting balance of power among investors,borrowers, and bankers, Chernow evokes both the grand theater ofcapital and the personal dramas of its most fascinatingprotagonists. Here is Siegmund Warburg, who dropped a client in theheat of a takeover deal because the man wore monogrammed shirtcuffs, as well as the imperious J. P. Morgan, who, when faced witha federal antitrust suit, admonished Theodore Roosevelt to "sendyour man to my man and they can fix it up." And here are the menwho usurped their power, from the go-getters of the 1920s to themasters of the universe of the 1980s. Glittering with perceptionand anecdote, The Death of the Banker is at once a panorama oftwentieth-century finance and a guide to the new era of giantmutual funds on Wall Street.
　　"Chernow . . . delivers a sound, accessible account of the forcesshaping capital, credit, currency, and securities markets on theeve of a new millennium. "
　　--Kirkus Reviews

　　Some fastidious fans will inevitably call it "FinancialHistory for Dummies" or "Chernow Lite." But I call it a delight--anintimate chat with a writer so thoughtful and well informed abouthis topic that one closes the book feeling far more worldly andintelligent than when one opened it. -- The New York Times BookReview, Diana B. Henriques