Description
Book SynopsisAlbert M. Greenfield (1887-1967), an ambitious immigrant outsider, was courted for his business acumen by mayors, senators, governors, and presidents, including Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. As this feisty Russian Jew built a business empire that encompassed real estate, stores (including Bonwit Teller and Tiffany's), hotels (including the Ben Franklin and the Bellevue-Stratford), banks, newspapers, transportation companies, and even the Loft Candy Corporation, he challenged the entrenched business elite. Greenfield was also instrumental in bringing both major political conventions to Philadelphia in 1948. In The Outsider, veteran journalist and best-selling author Dan Rottenberg deftly chronicles the astonishing rises, falls, and countless reinventions of this savvy businessman. Greenfield's power allowed him to cross social, religious, and ethnic boundaries with impunity. He alarmed Philadelphia's conservative business and social leaders-Christians and Jews alike-some of w
Trade Review"In this mainly laudatory biography, Rottenberg traces Greenfield’s unlikely story, beginning as a Russian Jewish son of a textile worker through his rapid rise to fortune as a real estate broker, developer, and banker. Though the book deals primarily with Greenfield’s business activities, Rottenberg pays close attention to his subject’s struggles as a Jew in a world dominated by the entrenched Protestant establishment..... Readers interested in the history of Philadelphia will enjoy the detailed accounts of Greenfield’s role in the development of some of the city’s most prominent buildings and businesses, and his relationships with generations of business, religious, and civic leaders." —
Library JournalTable of Contents Preface: The Jews, the Wasps, and the New American Dream
Author’s Disclosure
Prologue: Merion Station, December 1930
PART I: Beginnings
1. The Wealth in Your Head
2. The New World
PART II: Power
3. Broker
4. Developer
5. Banker
PART III: Downfall
6. The Great Crash
7. The Protestant Establishment
8. The Reckoning
PART IV: Comeback
9. Merchant Prince
10. New Deal Democrat
11. Reluctant Zionist
12. Godfather
PART V: Legacy
13. Civic Savior
14. Lion in Winter
15. House of Cards
Epilogue: Merion Station, December 1930
Acknowledgments
Principal Characters
Notes
Bibliography
Index
