Steven Ujifusa Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia’s Jews on the Eve of World War I Paperback HISTORY/United States / 20th Century “A captivating group portrait of three ‘titans’ of industry who facilitated the steamship routes by which around 2 million Jewish refugees, fleeing pogroms and discrimination, immigrated from Europe to America between 1890 and 1921. . . .Ujifusa ties this intricate business history into a broader economic and diplomatic context and relates the experiences of regular people who made the crossings, including the families who perished aboard the Titanic. This innovative account provides a complex new perspective on the turn of the 20th century.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) From 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in Eastern Europe, arrived in America. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen—unsung heroes in the Jewish-American narrative: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Co., who used his immense wealth to help Jews leave Europe;Albert Ballin, the managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a network of trains and steamships to transport them;and J. P. Morgan, the mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine trust (IMM), who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often at odds, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many others—including Steven Ujifusa’s great-grandparents. Such is the legacy of these three remarkable men. Meticulously researched and masterfully told, Ujifusa’s story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war—and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time.