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THE RICHEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED

Name: THE RICHEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED
Author: Greg Steinmetz
ISBN: 978-1-4516-8855-9

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JACOB FUGGER

by Greg Steinmetz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 4, 2015

A straightforward, engaging look at this “German Rockefeller.”

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An intriguing exploration of the life of an Augsburg moneylender as a prototypical capitalist in the modern mold.

A former journalist (Wall Street Journal Berlin and London bureau chief), now a New York securities analyst, Steinmetz makes a convincing case for the value of studying enigmatic banker Jacob Fugger (1459-1525), who persuaded the pope to lift the ongoing ban on usury, among other acts that proved galvanizing in the Renaissance era. As the shrewd moneylender to the up-and-coming Habsburg emperor, Maximilian (“the man who, with Fugger’s help, would take the Habsburgs to greatness”), Fugger learned early on the value of making connections with those in power, thanks to indoctrination in his family’s textile business in Augsburg, followed by apprenticeship in the trading houses of Venice. Muscling his way to a monopoly in the silver mining business in the alpine town of Schwaz, then in the Hungarian copper belt, Fugger became the go-to lender for the massive sums required to raise armies and wage war—not just for Maximilian, but for the Portuguese, who traded pepper for Fugger’s metal. Though contemporaries excoriated Fugger as a “profiteer, a monopolist and a Jew,” Steinmetz believes he acted out of the “radical” belief that one did not have to be born noble to be superior. On the contrary, intelligence, hard work, and constant effort made one successful in life, as he amply demonstrated. Eventually, these qualities were the ones he valued the most in the nephews he selected to succeed him. A devout Catholic and severe critic of the restive Lutherans, Fugger served seven popes, lobbied Pope Leo X successfully to lift the ban on what was considered usury, “midwifed” the famous St. Peter’s indulgence that spurred Martin Luther to pen his 95 Theses, and helped bankroll the crushing of the German Peasants’ War—and still managed to die solvent.

A straightforward, engaging look at this “German Rockefeller.”

Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4516-8855-9

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: April 12, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015

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THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

FROM MEAN STREETS TO WALL STREET

by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006

Well-told and admonitory.

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Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.

Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.

Well-told and admonitory.

Pub Date: June 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-074486-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006

Categories:

GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BUSINESS

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BLACK BOY

A RECORD OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

by Richard Wright ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1945

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This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.

It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.

Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.