The Last Partnerships

They laid the foundations of American finance and defined the American brand of capitalism. They bankrolled wars, were the impetus behind the building of the first transcontinental railroad system, and fueled a fledgling nation’s grandiose dreams of empire. S&M Allen, J. P. Morgan & Co., Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers...they were the great Wall Street partnerships, and for well over a century, through a combination of financial genius, political chicanery, and the audacity of Caesars, they wielded unprecedented influence over the business, financial, and political landscapes of a nation. The Last Partnerships combines rigorous scholarship with journalism at its best to present a panoramic history of the rise and fall of the great financial houses—from the “Yankee Bankers,” at the turn of the 19th century, up to Goldman Sachs’ historic IPO in 1999—tracing their origins, their successes and failures over the years, and the reasons for their ultimate demise. The Last Partnerships is must-reading for history buffs and everyone interested in the world of finance behind the business-page headlines.

Charles R. Geisst, professor of finance at Manhattan College, is the author of ten books including Wall Street: A History (1997) which was a New York Times Business Bestseller, selection of the History Book Club and the Book of the Month Club, and on the Canadian Business Bestseller list. In addition, Mr. Geisst is being considered as a featured expert on the subject of Wall Street for a television documentary currently being developed by Peter Guber (Columbia Studios). One of his other recent books, Investment Banking in the Financial System (Prentice Hall, 1995) was recently published in Beijing in a Chinese language edition. Geisst has been a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg Television, and Nippon TV.