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Dan Rottenberg
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Books
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My nine books at a glance (details below).
In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World (New York: Routledge, 2003). (For more
details, see below.)
The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance (Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania Press,
2001). (For more details, see below.)
The Inheritor's Handbook: A Definitive Guide for Beneficiaries (Princeton, N.J.: Bloomberg Press, 1998). (For more
details, see below.)
Middletown Jews: The Tenuous Survival of An American Jewish Community (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press,
1997).
Revolution On Wall Street: The Rise and Decline of the New York Stock Exchange (New York: Norton, 1993, with Marshall
E. Blume and Jeremy J. Siegel).
Main Line WASP: One Man's Journey Through the 20th Century (New York: Norton, 1990, with W. Thacher Longstreth).
Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen: An Informal History, 1903-1988 (Philadelphia: Privately printed, 1988). History
of a Philadelphia law firm.
Fight On, Pennsylvania: A Century of Red and Blue Football (Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania, 1985).
Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy(New York: Random House, 1977. Paperback: Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1985 and 1995). (For more details, see below.)
In the Kingdom of Coal
www.routledge-ny.com
In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World. By Dan Rottenberg. (Routledge, 2003).
327 pages + xix. 8 pages of photos.
$29.95. Available from Routledge at -800-634-7064 or www.routledge-ny.com or www.amazon.com.
It was a time of poverty and enterprise, when poor men slaved in the mines, rich men became barons, and America grew from
a backward agricultural colony to the industrial force of the modern world. The driving power behind this transformation was
coal, the black gold that even today illuminates our cities and runs our personal computers.
In the Kingdom of Coal tells the extraordinary story of coal through the eyes of two families, one the magnates, one
the miners, over five generations while locked together, for better or worse, in a common quest.
At the reins of power are the Leisenrings, who built a coal dynasty in four states and a fortune that intersected with those
of Henry Clay Frick, the Carnegies, and the other masters of America's industrial revolution. Deep underground are the sons
of the Givens family, who gave their sweat and sometimes their lives to the Leisenrings' Virginia mines.
Rich with the struggles of management and labor from two unforgettable families over two centuries, In the Kingdom of Coal
is an American saga of how coal operators made and lost fortunes, coal towns flourished and died, and miners and mine owners
battled the earth, the atmosphere, and each other in their quest to satisfy the world's appetite for coal.
Reviews
"This is two histories for the price of one: a history of America's most abundant and important natural resource and the people
it has warmed, made rich and used up, Both are great tales well told."
(James T. Baker, author of Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron as American Hero.)
"It's a tale of enterprise, hardship, politics, power, money and murder... Rottenberg's tribute to coal is complete and compelling,
a literary balance between story and textbook. The level of research is extraordinary.... The author provides comprehensive
insight into not only how the coal men changed the nation but why. Much more than just the facts, In the Kingdom of Coal
shows what drove men to risk their fortunes and their lives for the rock that burns."
(Norfolk, Va., Virginian-Pilot)
"In a superb balancing act, Dan Rottenberg deftly portrays the quixotic tycoons who were determined to succeed at any cost
while keeping the reader attuned to how this black substance literally revolutionized American society. There is backroom
intrigue involving ythe likes of Carnegie, Frick and Rockefeller; bloody warfarre between capital annd labor; and political
shenanigans that reverberate today. With diligent research, personal insight and spirited language, Rottenberg transforms
the machinations driving the coal industry into a raucous and lively ride through history."
(Peter Krass, author of Carnegie.)
"A well-written account of two families tied together by the busts and booms of the coal industry as it evolved from an almost
agricultural endeavor in the late 18th Century into a highly mechanized but physically and financially dangerous modern corporate
enterprise."
(Publishers Weekly.)
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The Man Who Made Wall Street
The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance. By Dan Rottenberg. Philadelphia: U.
of Pennsylvania Press, 2001. 262 pages + xvii + 16 pages of pictures. $29.95. ISBN: 0812236262. www.upenn.edu/pennpress.
It was the height of the Gilded Age and J.Pierpont Morgan controlled the fate of railroads, corporations and governments.
Yet Morgan deferred to one man: Anthony J. Drexel (whose name is familiar today only through the university he founded and
his recently canonized niece and protegée, Mother Katharine Drexel) was the most influential financier of the 19th Century.
After decades of detective work, Dan Rottenberg has succeeded in writing the first biography of this elusive and forgotten
figure.
Reviews:
From Publishers Weekly:
"Though Drexel (1826-1893) was a major player in American finance as the country moved into the industrial age and certainly
deserves a serious biography, his achievements are often overlooked in favor of more famous figures such as Jay Gould and
J.P. Morgan. In fact, the book's title is ironic, given that Drexel's base was Philadelphia's Third Street financial district.
Yet most of this book concerns his indirect effect on New York financial circles and his very direct effect on the fortunes
of his good friend J.P. Morgan. Some of Drexel's obscurity is attributable to his private nature; there are few surviving
papers and no interviews. On this score, Rottenberg (Finding Our Fathers) has done a superlative job, tracking down
hundreds of bits of information, collating indirect references and interviewing many surviving relatives.... Readers with
a particular interest in 19th-century financial affairs will find this work an invaluable resource, providing a rigorously
researched and solidly presented illumination of hitherto neglected details."
David Mason, in The Historian:
"An engaging narrative that is free of jargon and accessible to both serious scholars and casual readers of financial history.....
(a) strong addition to the biographies of American financiers."
Howard Bodenhorn, Journal of American History:
"Rottenberg has given us an illuminating biography of a forgotten figure."
Mark Bernstein, Pennsylvania Gazette:
"Rottenberg appears to have unearthed much that was not known to exist....This judicious, well-written book fills a large
hole in our historical knowledge."
Andrea Knox, Philadelphia Inquirer:
"Rottenberg's fluent writing and intelligently drawn portrait of 19th-century financial history and the role of this little-known
player is well worth reading."
The Inheritor's Handbook
The Inheritor's Handbook: A Definitive Guide for Beneficiaries. By Dan Rottenberg. (Princeton, N.J.: Bloomberg Press,
1998). 214 pages, $23.95. ISBN: 1-57660-051-3. Toll-free orders: 888-417-9507.
Paperback edition: Fireside Books (New York, division of Simon & Schuster, 2000). 214 pages, $13. ISBN 0-684-86908-X.
The first guide to estate planning from the recipient's perspective: a comprehensive guide through the inheritance process
that gets to the heart of the complex issues, both financial and emotional, that beneficiaries face. The book demonstrates
how future heirs can discuss money and wills with their parents, choose advisers, manage investments and much more. Using
real-life examples,. Rottenberg provides tested solutions to sensitive inheritance issues: before the time of death, at the
time of death, and years later.
Reviews
"That rarest personal-finance treasure: a well-written, clearly organized primer that weighs in on a broadly applicable but
seldom-covered topic."
(Ken Kurson, Esquire.)
Finding Our Fathers
Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy (New York: Random House, 1977. Paperback: Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1985 and 1995). 423 pages, $19.95. ISBN: 0806311517.
www.genealogical.com
Most American Jews believe they can only trace their families back for two or three generations. In this landmark work, the
first guide to tracing Jewish ancestors ever published anywhere, Dan Rottenberg proves them wrong. He shows how to conduct
a successful search by probing the memories of living relatives, by examining marriage licenses, gravestones, ship passenger
lists, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and other public documents, and by looking for clues in family
traditions and customs. Supplementing the "how to" instructions is a guide to some 8,000 Jewish family names, giving the origins
of the names, sources of information about each family, and the names of related families whose histories have been recorded.
Other features include a country-by-country guide to tracing Jewish ancestors abroad, a list of Jewish family history books,
and a guide to researching genealogy in Mormon records and in Israel.
Reviews
"...this readable volume provides much solid information for both the neophyte and the experienced genealogist."
(National Genealogical Society Quarterly,, Vol. 66, No. 145, June 1978)
"The excellent bibliography...lists Jewish family histories and genealogies in print...Finding Our Fathers is a 'must'
for anyone seeking his Jewish ancestry."
(Review of paperback edition in National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 4, December 1986)
"Those who want to use it to track down their own background are provided with more than enough leads. Less energetic readers...will
also be delighted."
(Canadian Jewish Times, July 17, 1986, p. 34).
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