The Last Kings of Shanghai The Last Kings of Shanghai

The Last Kings of Shanghai

The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China

    • 4.2 • 178 Ratings
    • $12.99
    • $12.99

Publisher Description

"In vivid detail... examines the little-known history of two extraordinary dynasties."--The Boston Globe

"Not just a brilliant, well-researched, and highly readable book about China's past, it also reveals the contingencies and ironic twists of fate in China's modern history."--LA Review of Books

An epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist


Shanghai, 1936. The Cathay Hotel, located on the city's famous waterfront, is one of the most glamorous in the world. Built by Victor Sassoon--billionaire playboy and scion of the Sassoon dynasty--the hotel hosts a who's who of global celebrities: Noel Coward has written a draft of Private Lives in his suite and Charlie Chaplin has entertained his wife-to-be. And a few miles away, Mao and the nascent Communist Party have been plotting revolution.

By the 1930s, the Sassoons had been doing business in China for a century, rivaled in wealth and influence by only one other dynasty--the Kadoories. These two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and losing nearly everything as the Communists swept into power. In The Last Kings of Shanghai, Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families participated in an economic boom that opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil at their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue, and survival.

The book lays bare the moral compromises of the Kadoories and the Sassoons--and their exceptional foresight, success, and generosity. At the height of World War II, they joined together to rescue and protect eighteen thousand Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. Though their stay in China started out as a business opportunity, the country became a home they were reluctant to leave, even on the eve of revolution. The lavish buildings they built and the booming businesses they nurtured continue to define Shanghai and Hong Kong to this day. As the United States confronts China's rise, and China grapples with the pressures of breakneck modernization and global power, the long-hidden odysseys of the Sassoons and the Kadoories hold a key to understanding the present moment.

GENRE
History
RELEASED
2020
June 2
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
384
Pages
PUBLISHER
Penguin Publishing Group
SELLER
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
SIZE
10.5
MB

Customer Reviews

JillianN. Smith ,

Exceptionally well written

This book expertly weaves together myriad sources for a read that feels comprehensively researched but also vivid and fast-paced.

poliwelsh ,

Me transportó a otra era

La historia de las 2 familias y su impacto.
Vean la película Sefarad

SDWill ,

Remarkable

A truly remarkable story. It again proves the adage that life is stranger than fiction. Jonathan Kaufman is to be congratulated for this book and every child in the world should read it before graduating high school.

More Books Like This

China Only Yesterday, 1850–1950 China Only Yesterday, 1850–1950
2015
Fortune's Bazaar Fortune's Bazaar
2023
The Sassoons The Sassoons
2022
The Scramble for China The Scramble for China
2016
Sun Yat Sen and the Birth of Modern China Sun Yat Sen and the Birth of Modern China
2015
The Tragedy of Liberation The Tragedy of Liberation
2013

More Books by Jonathan Kaufman

Multiple Myeloma : State of the Art Multiple Myeloma : State of the Art
2011
Burying the Pawn Burying the Pawn
2023
Gli ultimi Re di Shanghai Gli ultimi Re di Shanghai
2022

Customers Also Bought

The Third Daughter The Third Daughter
2019
Apeirogon: A Novel Apeirogon: A Novel
2020
People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present
2021
The Netanyahus The Netanyahus
2021
Button Man Button Man
2018
River of the Gods River of the Gods
2022