At London Jewish Book Week this February – The first full history of the ‘Rothschilds of the East’, from descendant Professor Joseph Sassoon

Posted: January 19th, 2022 | No Comments »

One of the great commercial dynasties of the 19th century, the Sassoons were as eminent as traders as the Rothschilds were bankers: a handful of Jewish refugees exiled from Ottoman Baghdad who forged a mercantile juggernaut trading cotton and opium, whose vast network of agents, informants and politicians bridged East and West, beyond their new home in India. Details and tickets here. Joseph Sassoon’s book is available here.

Descendant Joseph Sassoon, Professor of History & Political Economy at Georgetown, draws on 130 years of correspondence to provide the first full history of the family, taking in the American Civil War, the British Raj, Japanese occupation of China and much more. He will be in conversation with ethnomusicologist, performer and researcher in the musical traditions of the Jews of Iraq, Sara Manasseh.

---