Rating: 
Summary: A Solid Biography of a Fascinating Life
Review: This biography succeeds in giving the reader a sense of Mr. Morgan's social milieu, the profound contradictions in the way he lived his life, and the way in which the late 19th and early 20th Century evolved into what we now call modern life.Ms. Strouse is sympathetic to her protagonist, but is also quick to point up his many flaws and quirks. I found the whole thing extremely readable. Perhaps the most amusing part of the book is the way in which Ms. Strouse portrays the "intelligentsia" in Mr. Morgan's art world--Roger Fry, Berenson--less as interesting evolutionary figures in the history of art criticism and more as real flesh and blood folks in search of a position or a commission. "Catty", Fry and Berenson seem to be synonyms in the Strouse lexicon. I'm not a great reader of biographies, but this one is pretty darn interesting. I wonder how the bios of this generation's multi-billionaires will read.
Rating: 
Summary: It left me a little short
Review: This sweeping biography is exquisitely detailed witht the facts of Morgan's life. And that's what the book is, facts. I know about Morgan's financial deals, his artistic deals, his affairs, but I never see the heart of the man. I'm left with little insight on the man himself. It's all facts and little or no feeling. Much of this is due to the subject himself, who the writer notes was found in his study burning personal letters that may have given us some insight on his feelings. If you don't need that though, and you want to know about the era of Morgan then I'd recommend the book. If you want to get to the marrow of the man, then I'd recommend looking somewhere else (if there is a somewhere to look).
Rating:
Summary: An excellent expose of JP's private and public lives
Review: With the modern day private equity and venture capital industries growing to such an extent that they provide an alternative to the stock market, the JP Morgan biography helps provide an insight into this type of 'old fashioned' private finance. JP Morgan was the forerunner of Cinven, KKR, and Hicks Muse in the way he kept strategic positions in wildly undervalued assets, only to see his power grow when they became more valuable. Like his modern day venture capital/private equity counterparts, he was the conduit for the vast excess of anonymous investors, in his day rich aristocrats and merchants, in our day the pension and mutual funds, and insurance companies. A very good book!!!
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