Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding biography.
Review: An outstanding biography that seems likely to become the standard work on J.P. Morgan.Yet, sometimes I felt the book dragged. Morgan was not a man to record his thoughts, and as a result, the book periodically feels like one is reading his day planner rather than getting a sense of Morgan. So too, some of the moments of great drama seem muted by the failure to know exactly how Morgan himself felt at the moment. I think the problem here is the person being written of, not the writer, but it does dull the reading process occasionally.
Rating: 
Summary: Completly unimpressed
Review: As an avid reader of books about America's "gilded age", I could not wait to get my hands on this book. I am sorry to say that I was completly and totally unimpressed. If you are familiar at all with Morgan, you will find Jean Strouse's handling of his business career to be very superficial. Unless all you are interested in is his female companions or his so-so art collecting this is not the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-researched, but lacking feeling.
Review: As some other reviewers mentioned, this deep and complex study of THE titanic figure in American financial history lacked insight and a sense of the true impact of Morgan's work upon the development of U.S. financial institutions. Strouse spent far too many pages on Morgan as a patron of the arts to the detriment of fully exploring his influence on financial affairs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His position in U.S. history is, perhaps, unappreciated -- especially with respect to his role in stabilizing U.S. financial markets during a period when the federal government was incapable or unwilling to face the task. We have the Federal Reserve system today largely as a result of J. P Morgan.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful!
Review: Author Jean Strouse presents an in-depth historical account of J. Pierpont Morgan's life and times as a preeminent financier during the expansion of the American economy in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She details the deals he engaged in to raise capital in Europe, help the railroads overcome bankruptcy, and provide bonds and loans to clients. She also details his role in working with other financial leaders and government officials to stabilize markets and - at a time when the U.S. had no national bank - to set up many of the corporate and financial structures we now take for granted. We at getAbstract.com were particularly interested in Strouse's descriptions of the political, economic, and social history of each period as a backdrop for Morgan's life. Morgan comes alive in her descriptions of his family life, travels, and art collection. This excellent, comprehensive biography will intrigue executives, managers, historians and anyone who appreciates war stories about a master dealmaker.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreadfully overwritten.
Review: Biographing someone as remote and uncommunicative as JPM was a Herculean task at which the author proved quite mortal. The man is titan of 20th century economics and finance, yet by the end you only knew that he was involved in US Steel and the Northern trusts. You never gained a sense for the Morgan's vision. The author focuses hundreds of pages his collection of artwork. So much so that it would be better titled Morgan: Art Lover.
Rating: 
Summary: The finest biography of Morgan yet
Review: I am a long time student of the American and European Gilded Age capitalists and industrialists, especially the Morgan's. As such I have read every biography of Morgan and his associates ever printed. This latest by Jean Strouse is without question the finest I have read. Here's why; Well written history immurses the reader in the period under discussion; nothing in the writing jars the reader back to the present. The very packaging of the book itself must give one the feel of the period The subject (in this case Morgan) must be viewed from many different angles; peers, family, reporters, foreign potentates, etc so that one gains a 360 degree view of the subject. The book must contain heretofore unseen illustrations. Not just the usual ones. The author must be so familiar and attracted to the subject that the writing is imbued with high drama. When you finish you are left with a feeling of wonder. You need time to allow the experience to permeate your senses. You do not even feel like moving onto the next book yet. Jean Strouse's biography accomplishes all the above with a 5 star rating !!
Rating:
Summary: Can't finish this beast
Review: I am sorry, but I can't cut through the filler material to get to the point of this book. The author boasts about her access to never-before-seen source material, then bores us to death with every last detail. Events and people are included in excruciating detail, which have only a minor connection with Morgan himself. If you are not completely dedicated to reading this dull one for weeks or writing a college paper on Morgan, this one will be difficult to finish.
Rating:
Summary: Facinating Look At The Man So Rich He Saved Wall Street!
Review: I found this book to be a facinating look at the man who was so rich that he single-handedly was able to stop the stock market from crashing. Morgan has been perhaps unfairly labeled a "robber baron", when in fact he was extremely generous in his philanthropy - particularly to the Episcopal Church and to the American people, to whom he gave his vast art collection...perhaps the largest collection in the world. You won't be able to put it down once you start, and the price is very reasonable!
Rating:
Summary: Life's too short to waste time reading this thing
Review: I honestly tried to finish this book but gave up on pg. 368. The only thing I can figure is that Morgan was himself an extremely boring person -- why else would Strouse spend 85% of the text on peripheral people and events only remotely connected to Morgan? If you are interested in things like: why Grover Cleveland's potential successor, William C. Whitney was opposed to the gold standard, then by all means, read this book! Otherwise, find something the least bit informative or entertaining to read. Life's too short to torture yourself with this monster of a biography.
Rating:
Summary: nobody like him...
Review: i read ron chernow's book on j. p morgan before reading this one and initially did not think i would like jean strouse's book as much, but ended up liking it just as much. i suggest reading both of them to get a picture of j. p. morgan, who was, with john d. rockefeller, perhaps the most influential man in america between 1875 and 1925. chernow's book is about the house of morgan, and j.p. morgan dies halfway through it, but jean strouse devotes all of her attention to j.p. morgan himself, both to his business and pleasure... it struck me that both biographers seemed to grow fond of their subject, a difficult man to warm to, and at times rationalized or explained away some pretty nasty behavior. e.g., if i were jewish, i woud not be nearly so tolerant of morgan's virulent anti-semitism as chernow and stroouse charitably were. they seemed to accept that as a by-product of his time and class. j. p morgan could be an arrogant, haughty jerk and a prick to peole, including his family, but he grew up when the upper classes felt entitled to think and act that way, assuming the rightness of their noblesse station in this world. and, he was in a hardball business and playing for keeps with the biggest money of anyone, at any time. on the positive side, morgan was an inarticulate but deep inside, sort of warm man who genuinely perceived of his role as being the steward of the american banking and financial system, to enable large amounts of capital to flow westward, from europe, to enable the usa to industrialize and expand. he was our banking system and federal reserve system all rolled into one and there is no one like him and has not been since he died. alan greenspan does only a third of what morgan did for the us economy. jean strouse does a good job of explaining all of this in a way that is not arcane or booring. i am not versed in banking and economics and some of what morgan did in effecting the acquisition and push of big money into the economy and railroads, oil, and other emerging industriesx is difficult to explain without going into some technical detail. jean strouse carries this off and i imagine that when she starrted she had to educate herself about economics to know her subject well enough to not make a fool of herself, as she knew everyone on wall street would read her book. the non-business aspect of strouse's book and treatment of morgan the man is just as interesting. morgan was no philanthopist on the scale of rockefeller, but was a fabulous art and raare book and antiquity collector. a good portion of his collections, except for what his son sold off, became the basis for several new york museum collections that we now enjoy. i heartily recommend that you read this book. stick with it early on, as it bogs down in some list-making detail. if you do, you will find it worthwhile, well-written and interesting.
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