‘This book offers a new look at the history of modern European Jewry and a fresh understanding of modern Europe itself. Combining impeccable research with clear, flowing, and attractive prose, Matthias B. Lehmann has created a first-rate intellectual experience that is also a finely wrought and compelling narrative.’ – Eli Lederhendler, author of American Jewry: A New History
‘Few individuals have left a mark so profound on modern Jewish history as Baron Maurice de Hirsch, who envisioned using his vast wealth to solve the vexing problems confronting the Jews of the Czarist and Ottoman empires. Matthias B. Lehmann’s monumental biography restores de Hirsch to his rightful place as a key figure in a history that spanned continents and transformed the Jewish world.’ Hasia R. Diner, author of Roads Taken: The Great Jewish Migrations to the New World
‘Written in elegant and evocative prose, Lehmann’s colorful biography reveals for the first time the outsized influence that Baron Hirsch had on the modern world from the Ottoman Empire to Argentina. A stunning history that forces us to think about the responsibilities that come with great wealth, the power of philanthropy, and the challenges of social engineering.’ – Jeffrey Veidlinger, author of In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918-1921
