The Cousinhood

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971. First American Edition [stated]. Presumed First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. xii, [2], 466 pages. Illustrations. Fold-out Genealogical Tables. Notes. Index. DJ has wear, soiling, edge tears and chips. This is a vivid account of the English-Jewish Aristocracy: Cohens, Rothschilds, Goldsmids, Montefiores, Samuels, Sassoons. Chaim Icyk Bermant (26 February 1929 - 20 January 1998) was a prominent Anglo-Jewish journalist, author and wit. Born in Braslava, Latvia, he spent much of his childhood in Scotland. He was educated at Queen's Park Secondary School in Glasgow, Glasgow University, where he graduated in economics, and the London School of Economics. He contributed regularly to The Jewish Chronicle and occasionally to the national press, particularly The Observer. An Orthodox Jew and supporter of Israel, he was freely critical of both. He wrote several novels and non-fiction works, mostly on the quirks of British Jewish society. Derived from a Kirkus review: Empathic, incisive portraits of the gilded strata of Anglo-Jewry -- the Goldsmids, Montefiores, and Rothschilds who prospered exceedingly in the meliorist air of Victorian England and mirrored faithfully the highminded benevolence of the English aristocracy. Unraveling the intricately crisscrossed genealogies and the discreetly made fortunes -- which paid for, among other bargains, Disraeli's purchase of the Suez Canal -- Bermant follows them into the fourth and fifth generations from the East India Company to peerage, the Derby and the corridors of power at Oxford and Westminster. The real strength of Bermant's book is his recognition of how well they assimilated and deeply shared the values of England during the halcyon days of Victorianism. They were intensely family oriented and produced numerous children; they believed in self-help; Hebraic teachings extolled the Victorian gospel of piety, thrift, and hard work; a severe sense of duty compelled them to build schools, synagogues, and soup kitchens in the ghetto even as they closed ranks to dam the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Bermant maintains a poised perspective throughout; it should win the respect of historians.