#sassoon

The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty

Centered around the story of the Sassoons, a Jewish family in Ottoman Baghdad that spanned two continents, this book is not only a family story but also a story of global trade and global capitalism. Although different members of the Sassoon family appear as actors in this story that spans from the beginning of the 19th century to the second half of the 20th century, we also witness major events such as the Industrial Revolution, the American Civil War, the World Wars, Indian Independence, and the Chinese Revolution through these actors. The Sassoons, who dominated the cotton and opium trade in the 19th century, were not the only ones of their kind. However, what distinguished them from their contemporaries and peers was that they served as a bridge between East and West, with family members and companies spanning Shanghai, Bombay, and London.

Brian Johnstone

Maybe they’re here somewhere, lost in these crowds of students, informal in their tweeds, plus fours –

Sassoon, the elder, Sunday golfer; Owen, bookish, gangly, pale – mingling with the queue for the refectory,

snatching nervously at fags, ignoring notices forbidding all those here to smoke. You catch a glimpse

you think, later, in the distance – backs straight, military haircuts – turning down a corridor you glance along