THE MANY LIVES OF OTTO KAHN

This lively account of a lively individual offers insights into many facets of America's past. By profession Otto Kahn was a broker with Kuhn, Loeb, specializing in railroads and participating, in the role of peacemaker, in a number of the battles of tycoons that repeatedly shook the American economy early in this century. By avocation he was a dedicated art lover, served on the Metropolitan Opera Company's board for most of his adult life, sponsored novel theatrical enterprises, brought Diaghile and Nijinsky to American audiences, and discovered and supported innumerable American artists in all fields. By conviction he was a liberal long before such attitudes were fashionable, a philanthropist on a grand scale, an ardent advocate of the rights of the helpless, of minorities, of workers and their families. His story is told briskly and without superlatives, yet the portrait that emerges seems clearly that of a fabulous personality.