Scan barcode
Reviews
The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World's Most Famous Dynasty by Natalie Livingstone
thepagelady's review
4.0
Having the chance to take a deep look into the Rothschild family was really intriguing for me! The research that went into this book was amazing! It's definitely a book a history buff would love!
marieintheraw's review
4.0
As someone who knew nothing about the Rothschild, I recommend this. If you have a lot of knowledge you maybe a bit disappointed.
I received an ecopy of this book through Netgalley; however, my opinions are my own.
I received an ecopy of this book through Netgalley; however, my opinions are my own.
tessisreading2's review
4.0
Over all, the book suffered from the sheer scope; as other reviewers have mentioned, everyone was named Charlotte and Hannah and the men were all named Mayer and Nathan and there really weren’t enough nicknames to go around. It occasionally got difficult to track. Moreover, the first few chapters suffered from a real dearth of information, leading to the kind of awkward non-expert extrapolation that, e.g., so-and-so “soothed herself” by having kosher food delivered to her husband, when pretty clearly it’s just that the kosher food delivery is the only thing Livingstone can be sure the current protagonist was actually DOING at that particular moment. Very small bits of information are invested with far too much significance and very little context.
Things improve rapidly once we hit the Victorian era, whose Rothschild ladies have left copious correspondence and whose family feuds, obviously, were somewhat epic. Once again, there are a lot of Rothschild ladies under discussion so tracking them is hard, but one is left in general feeling very sorry for all of them - married off (often to cousins) and kept in a somewhat insular world, in which they are educated and socialize with the upper classes… who are also extremely antisemitic. In essence they don’t have anyone “like them” besides other family members and a handful of other prominent European Jewish families - and then they’ve all intermarried so much that they’re constantly feuding over who stole which bride/dowry out from underneath whom. While some documents were destroyed, the constant interplay of communication between various members of the family means that Livingstone was able to unearth what was going on (or enough of it that her descriptions seem plausible).
As we head into the twentieth century, the book loses steam again - not that the women on whom the book focuses aren't interesting, but there is a lot going on and Livingstone speeds through the entirety of the twentieth century with astonishing rapidity. Additionally, the family isn't as much of a focus - Miriam Rothschild was a scientist; Nica Rothschild was mostly known for her involvement in the jazz scene (and relationship with Thelonious Monk) - making the group biography format rather clunky - there are at this point dozens, if not hundreds, of Rothschilds who only occasionally pop up and by this point Livingstone just describes them as being "from the French branch." The fact that they were Rothschilds wasn't really relevant to their lives, just that they were rich and Jewish.
Things improve rapidly once we hit the Victorian era, whose Rothschild ladies have left copious correspondence and whose family feuds, obviously, were somewhat epic. Once again, there are a lot of Rothschild ladies under discussion so tracking them is hard, but one is left in general feeling very sorry for all of them - married off (often to cousins) and kept in a somewhat insular world, in which they are educated and socialize with the upper classes… who are also extremely antisemitic. In essence they don’t have anyone “like them” besides other family members and a handful of other prominent European Jewish families - and then they’ve all intermarried so much that they’re constantly feuding over who stole which bride/dowry out from underneath whom. While some documents were destroyed, the constant interplay of communication between various members of the family means that Livingstone was able to unearth what was going on (or enough of it that her descriptions seem plausible).
As we head into the twentieth century, the book loses steam again - not that the women on whom the book focuses aren't interesting, but there is a lot going on and Livingstone speeds through the entirety of the twentieth century with astonishing rapidity. Additionally, the family isn't as much of a focus - Miriam Rothschild was a scientist; Nica Rothschild was mostly known for her involvement in the jazz scene (and relationship with Thelonious Monk) - making the group biography format rather clunky - there are at this point dozens, if not hundreds, of Rothschilds who only occasionally pop up and by this point Livingstone just describes them as being "from the French branch." The fact that they were Rothschilds wasn't really relevant to their lives, just that they were rich and Jewish.
lady_dionysia's review
4.0
I received a copy of the Kindle ebook of this via NetGalley and all opinions are my own. My review will also be published today on my Goodreads account.
Natalie Livingstone has clearly done a lot of research in this volume containing multiple biographies of the women of the famous Rothschild banking family. She does a good job giving an overview of the English branch of the family, but as with books such as these, I don't pressure myself in remembering who everyone is, since there are so many members mentioned. Some of the women profiled do stand out, such as the witty Charlotte and outsider Blanche. With such a multitude, Livingstone does run into the problem of running out of steam towards the latter half of the book, which to me felt rushed in chronicling the lives of the later Rothschild women, and my eyes glazed over whenever politics was mentioned, but overall it's a good read.
4/5 stars
Natalie Livingstone has clearly done a lot of research in this volume containing multiple biographies of the women of the famous Rothschild banking family. She does a good job giving an overview of the English branch of the family, but as with books such as these, I don't pressure myself in remembering who everyone is, since there are so many members mentioned. Some of the women profiled do stand out, such as the witty Charlotte and outsider Blanche. With such a multitude, Livingstone does run into the problem of running out of steam towards the latter half of the book, which to me felt rushed in chronicling the lives of the later Rothschild women, and my eyes glazed over whenever politics was mentioned, but overall it's a good read.
4/5 stars
vof5017's review
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
"The Women of Rothschild" by Natalie Livingstone was a fascinating look at the women of the Rothschild family. Although I was familiar with several of the men from this financial/political dynasty, I did not know anything about the female members of the family prior to reading this book. The Rothschild women are a unique and strong-willed group, and I enjoyed how the author took us through their lives and the impacts they had on the family, their social and political circles, and especially the arts. It was fun to read about their interactions with and influence on historical figures from music, art, and science. If you are interested in family or social histories, this is a great book to pick up!
"The Women of Rothschild" by Natalie Livingstone was a fascinating look at the women of the Rothschild family. Although I was familiar with several of the men from this financial/political dynasty, I did not know anything about the female members of the family prior to reading this book. The Rothschild women are a unique and strong-willed group, and I enjoyed how the author took us through their lives and the impacts they had on the family, their social and political circles, and especially the arts. It was fun to read about their interactions with and influence on historical figures from music, art, and science. If you are interested in family or social histories, this is a great book to pick up!
portybelle's review against another edition
4.0
This book is absolutely fascinating and I learned a lot from it. I didn’t know much about the Rothschilds at all before reading it and certainly nothing about the women of the family. The women may have been outsiders in some ways, being female in this patriarchal family and Jews in a predominately Christian society, but it mustn’t be overlooked that by and large they were incredibly privileged and that the wealth of their family gave them many opportunities.
As is often the case, history largely focusses on men with women getting an occasional mention as a wife, mother or daughter. Here Natalie Livingstone brings the women out from the shadows of their illustrious husbands and puts them at the forefront of her book. The women are so interesting and here are just a few of the stories which really caught my attention. I have to start of course with Gutle whose marriage to Mayer Amschel Rothschild in 1770 really begins the story. Their five sons founded the Rothschild dynasty but their daughters were never to inherit any of the family’s wealth directly. In the early 1800s, Hannah de Rothschild campaigned for Jewish liberty and emancipation. Her daughter, Hannah Mayer Rothschild, was proposed to by an Austrian prince, shocked the family by marrying outside the faith in 1839 and later suffered the tragic loss of a young son. That Hannah’s niece Constance (later Lady Battersea) was involved in campaigning for social reform and her 1922 memoir Reminiscences was very positively received, selling enough copies to earn Constance some royalties. I found Miriam Rothschild (b 1908) particularly fascinating. She was a renowned zoologist and heavily involved in the environmental issues. Highly intelligent, she was recruited to work as a translator at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. I hope I have got the relationships correct – there were a lot of Rothschild women to keep up with!
To mention those women above is just to touch on the memorable women of the Rothschild family. The book is impeccably and extensively researched and the author has brought together her findings in a compelling and very accessible way. It’s as much a social history as it is the history of the Rothschild women. The hardback is a physically beautiful book that would not be out of place on any coffee table. It’s a well written book revealing so much about this remarkable family and would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest of the role of women in history, albeit women from a extraordinarily privileged family.
As is often the case, history largely focusses on men with women getting an occasional mention as a wife, mother or daughter. Here Natalie Livingstone brings the women out from the shadows of their illustrious husbands and puts them at the forefront of her book. The women are so interesting and here are just a few of the stories which really caught my attention. I have to start of course with Gutle whose marriage to Mayer Amschel Rothschild in 1770 really begins the story. Their five sons founded the Rothschild dynasty but their daughters were never to inherit any of the family’s wealth directly. In the early 1800s, Hannah de Rothschild campaigned for Jewish liberty and emancipation. Her daughter, Hannah Mayer Rothschild, was proposed to by an Austrian prince, shocked the family by marrying outside the faith in 1839 and later suffered the tragic loss of a young son. That Hannah’s niece Constance (later Lady Battersea) was involved in campaigning for social reform and her 1922 memoir Reminiscences was very positively received, selling enough copies to earn Constance some royalties. I found Miriam Rothschild (b 1908) particularly fascinating. She was a renowned zoologist and heavily involved in the environmental issues. Highly intelligent, she was recruited to work as a translator at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. I hope I have got the relationships correct – there were a lot of Rothschild women to keep up with!
To mention those women above is just to touch on the memorable women of the Rothschild family. The book is impeccably and extensively researched and the author has brought together her findings in a compelling and very accessible way. It’s as much a social history as it is the history of the Rothschild women. The hardback is a physically beautiful book that would not be out of place on any coffee table. It’s a well written book revealing so much about this remarkable family and would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest of the role of women in history, albeit women from a extraordinarily privileged family.
rhifallows's review against another edition
4.0
I love a good historical biography and this is certainly a book that falls into this category. I used to read loads of them mainly based on composers and musicians, but this is the first historical biog I’ve read in quite a while and it’s made me want to read more! We read this book as part of a great buddy read and I’ve got to say I think reading as a group and discussing various aspects really helped me digest certain dried sections, so thanks gals!
As the title of the book suggests, this book charts the little recognised history of the women and wives within the Rothschild family. I knew a minimal amount about the family before diving into this book so it was very much a journey of discovery for me. There were parts of the book that I felt like I was reading a historical episode of Made In Chelsea - particularly in earlier generations of the Rothschilds some of the antics they got up to were hilarious!
The later, post WW2 chapters was where it got really interesting, with the women breaking out of the confines of what was expected of them as the female members of the family. I loved seeing the progression both within their family but also in society in general. I enjoyed reading about the Jewish history and also the huge role that the Rothschilds had in integrating the Jewish faith into British politics.
This was an incredibly well researched book which was absolutely jam packed with facts and different source material, but through it Livingstone also created a fascinating narrative which I really enjoyed.
As the title of the book suggests, this book charts the little recognised history of the women and wives within the Rothschild family. I knew a minimal amount about the family before diving into this book so it was very much a journey of discovery for me. There were parts of the book that I felt like I was reading a historical episode of Made In Chelsea - particularly in earlier generations of the Rothschilds some of the antics they got up to were hilarious!
The later, post WW2 chapters was where it got really interesting, with the women breaking out of the confines of what was expected of them as the female members of the family. I loved seeing the progression both within their family but also in society in general. I enjoyed reading about the Jewish history and also the huge role that the Rothschilds had in integrating the Jewish faith into British politics.
This was an incredibly well researched book which was absolutely jam packed with facts and different source material, but through it Livingstone also created a fascinating narrative which I really enjoyed.