Bianco's riveting family saga tells "a gripping tale of huge talent, huge fortune, and even huger hubris. . . . A fine, well-researched, and elegantly written book" ("Los Angeles Times Book Review".) 16-page photo insert.
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Bianco's riveting family saga tells "a gripping tale of huge talent, huge fortune, and even huger hubris. . . . A fine, well-researched, and elegantly written book" ("Los Angeles Times Book Review".) 16-page photo insert.
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Seller's Description:
Very good in Very good jacket. xviii, 810, [4] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. Very slight wear to DJ edges. Anthony Bianco is a senior writer at Business Week. He is the author of two books, The Reichmanns: Family, Faith, Fortune and the Empire of the Olympia & York and Rainmaker: The Saga of Jeff Beck, Wall Street's Mad Dog. He lives in New York City. The Reichmanns of Toronto were one of the ten wealthiest families in the world; they lost their wealth when Paul Reichmann risked everything on a property development project on London's East End which imploded, leading to the loss of ten billion dollars. The family straddled the disparate worlds of casino capitalism and Jewish fundamentalism. The commercial empire built by the Reichmanns was one of the greatest the world has ever seen. Their stunning rise and their tremendous fall is one of the great stories of our century, all the more astounding because they have been and remain ultra-Orthodox. Business Week reporter Anthony Bianco expertly balances the Reichmanns' business dealings with a penetrating look at the hidden world of ultra-Orthodoxy. He has obtained exclusive and unprecedented interviews with all of the major family members. Their story is both a thrilling business narrative and an engrossing investigation of the intersection of values, tradition, and commerce. Derived from a Kirkus Review: A tremendous, all-encompassing biography of one of the most powerful and secretive family dynasties of the 20th century. The Reichmanns descend from Hungarian-Jewish scions who, according to legend, purposely took the name Reichmann ("rich man'') in hopes that it would prove prophetic. The Reichmann elders, Samuel and Renee, were forced to flee Hungary as the Nazis approached, and settled first in Tangier. Bianco lays to rest some of the more noxious stories of their life there--notably that Samuel traded currency with the Nazis--and reveals the extent to which their charitable contributions aided Jews in concentration camps. Using the family fortune, Renee was able to obtain lists of Jews deported to ghettos or camps, and personally organized thousands of packages of food to be sent to them. The Reichmann children--Eva, Edward, Louis, Albert, Paul, and Ralph--inherited this sense of moral obligation and dedication to business. After the war the family moved to Canada, where they established themselves as a powerful, wealthy, and deeply devout Jewish dynasty. After cornering the ceramic-tile market, Paul Reichmann formed Olympia & York, which owned buildings internationally and would, by the 1980s, become the biggest landlord in Manhattan. Paul, described by a colleague as ``the Einstein of buildings, '' had ever more grandiose dreams for his real-estate empire. The family's heritage is the real story here, and Bianco's prose is captivating. Fascinating and always smart, this is a stylish and intriguing look at the powerful intricacies of family, religion, and wealth.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Light Creasing on Front, Rear Covers, Spine; Front, Rear Covers, Spine Lightly Chipped; Edges Lightly Soiled. National Bestseller. FRONT-JACKET PHOTO (TOP): Paul Reichmann with plans for Canary Wharf; photo by John Rogers copyright Times Newspapers Limited. SPINE AND FRONT-JACKET BAND PHOTOS (FROM LEFT): Renee Reichmann, courtesy Edward Reichmann; Paul Reichmann, courtesy The Toronto Star; Samuel Reichmann, courtesy the author; Renee Reichmann; Albert Reichmann, courtesy The Toronto Star; David Reichmann, courtesy Louis and Marika Reichmann; Eva Reichmann, courtesy Edward Reichmann; Edward Reichmann, courtesy Edward Reichmann. JACKET DESIGN: Gabrielle Bordwin. CONTENTS: Acknowledgments; Introduction; PART I Oberland Exodus PART II Exile in Tangier PART III A Canadian Tale of Two Cities PART IV Empire of the Sons PART V Babel on the River Thames; Epilogue; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Index. ISBN: 0-679-30812-1 (Copyright Page)/0-679-30886-5 (Rear Cover). REVIEWS: "A great achievement in business journalism, immaculately documented and evocatively realized."--Peter C. Newman, The Globe and Mail. "The definitive biography...The Reichmanns is such a page-turner that readers will be shocked to find themselves going without sleep...Bianco's elegant prose has succeeded, where others have failed, in capturing the inside story of this family's remarkable rise, fall and redemption."--Financial Post. "Rich portraits of, among other things, the Orthodox Jewish community, the Reichmann family, the international real estate business, and Paul Reichmann...The Reichmanns offers exceptional insight into two worlds and the man who boldly attempted to bridge them."--Maclean's. "A stunning tale, meticulously researched and gracefully told...Superbly crafted."--Montreal Gazette. "A fearless, scholarly, stay-up-all-night-to-finish-reading-it biography...Thanks to this elegantly written book, we have the tolls to truly understand the Reichmann family."--Report on Business. "This book has the arc of classical tragedy, with a hero worthy of the Greeks."--Time.