This book outlines many of the stand-out people in the Rothschild family. The family begins their rise to extreme prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild, a court factor for the royals. (Despite being a European History major, I had never heard of the term court factor before reading this book, so I was glad to have learned at least one new thing. For those who are reading this and do not know what that is, it is a Jewish person who controlled the finances.) He established his own bank, and left his wealth to his sons. The family continued to expand into different business ventures, make a lot of connections, and manage to become one of the most wealthy and powerful families in history. This book has a ton of information in it. It was well researched, and I learned a lot about this family. Highly recommend if you are interested in family dynasties and their philanthropy and reach throughout the decades.