Sign-In
Cart
The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I
Paperback
20th Century United States HistoryGeneral World HistoryWorld War I
Publisher Price: $21.99
ISBN13: 9780062971883
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: Nov 11 2025
Pages: 400
Weight: 1.00
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.31 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
Thoroughly researched and beautifully written history.--New York Times Book Review
Absorbing . . . a David-and-Goliath tale of the industrial age.--Wall Street Journal
A propulsive human drama that chronicles the mass exodus of Jews from Eastern Europe to America in the early years of the twentieth century, and the men who made it possible.
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg.
This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included 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 more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy.
Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, 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.
Three men--a banker, a shipping magnate, and a monopolist--changed the course of history.
- A Forgotten Chapter of Jewish History: Follow the perilous journey of 2.5 million Jews from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the ports of Hamburg and the promise of a new life in America.
- Maritime Power and Monopoly: Discover the untold story of Albert Ballin, head of the Hamburg-American Line, and his rival J. P. Morgan, who sought to control the profitable transatlantic steamship business.
- The Philanthropist and the Financier: Learn how investment banker Jacob Schiff used his immense wealth to facilitate the mass exodus, often putting him at odds with the other titans of the age.
- The Rise of American Nativism: Explore the political forces that fought to close America's golden door, connecting the Gilded Age immigration debate to the refugee crises of today.
Also from
Ujifusa, Steven
Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World's Fastest Clipper Ship
Ujifusa, Steven
Paperback
Faith and Fortune: Henry and Amelia Champlin and America's Maritime Ascendancy
Paul, Geoffrey
Ujifusa, Steven
Hardcover
A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the SS United States
Ujifusa, Steven
Paperback
The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I
Ujifusa, Steven
Hardcover
Also in
20th Century United States History
By the Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution
Talbot, David
Talbot, Margaret
Hardcover
The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune
Stille, Alexander
Hardcover
A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890-1960
Van Slyck, Abigail A.
Hardcover
What Have They Built You to Do?: The Manchurian Candidate and Cold War America
Gonzalez, Gaspar
Jacobson, Matthew Frye
Paperback
Dangerous Games: Faces, Incidents, and Casualties of the Cold War
Baron, Scott
Wise, James E.
Hardcover
American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump
Bird, Kai
Goldmark, Susan
Hardcover
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--And How It Shattered a Nation
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Hardcover
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
Dohrn, Zayd Ayers
Hardcover
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Rothstein, Richard
Paperback
The Steal: Four Right-Wing Hard-Liners, One Republican Presidency, and the Raid on America's Courts
Wagner, Alex
Hardcover
Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War
Katz, Catherine Grace
Hardcover
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Kobes Du Mez, Kristin
Paperback
The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy
Ross, Steven J.
Hardcover
Ghosts of Sicily: The True Story of the Naval Intelligence Agents Who Courted the Mob to Fight Nazis in America and the Battlefields of Italy
Carroll, Leon
Harmon, Mark
Hardcover
An American Girl: How a Billion-Dollar Doll and Its Unlikely Founder Changed Girlhood Forever
Fitzsimons, Amanda
Hardcover
The Hardest, Longest Race: Henry Ford and the Cross-Country Contest That Changed America
Moskowitz, Eric
Hardcover
The Housewives Underground: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery
Tiffany, Kaitlyn
Hardcover
Solo and Together: Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, an Enigmatic Life and Marriage
Hansen, James R.
Hardcover
A Librarian's War: The Man Who Fought World War II with Books and Brought the Joy of Reading to Millions
Manning, Molly Guptill
Hardcover
An Inconvenient Woman: The Extraordinary Life of Lillian Smith, the Southerner Who Defied Jim Crow America
Merritt, Keri Leigh
Hardcover
Who Killed Jfk?: Solving America's Greatest Murder Mystery
Russell, Dick
Reiner, Rob
Hoffman, David
Hardcover
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Brown, Daniel James
Paperback
The Last Full Measure: An American Family and How the United States Brought Home the Dead of World War II
Clarke, Kim
Hardcover
El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory
Ulloa, Jazmine
Hardcover
Liberation Summer: The Moment That Changed the Women's Movement and the Future of American Politics
McElya, Micki
Hardcover
Transgender History, Third Edition: A Resource for Today's Struggle--And Tomorrow's
Stryker, Susan
Paperback
A Shadow Over the World: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II
Hitchcock, William I.
Hardcover
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Paperback
Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth--And What to Do about It
Moyn, Samuel
Hardcover
When America Roared: How the 1980s Saved, Then Broke, the Country--And Led Us to Today
Kaufman, Jonathan
Hardcover
The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America
Williams, Geoff
Hardcover
The Last Flight: The Untold Story of the Search for JFK Jr. and the Race Against the Atlantic
Webster, Theresa M.
Webster, W. Russell
Hardcover
Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York
Gottlieb, Dylan
Hardcover
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Egan, Timothy
Paperback
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
Egan, Timothy
Paperback
Countdown Battle of the Bulge: The 40 Days of World War II That Crushed Hitler's Last Hope
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive '80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation
Williams, Elliot
Hardcover
The Hour Strikes: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Hitler at the Hinge of History, 1941
Thomas, Evan
Thomas, Oscie
Hardcover
The Distance Between Our Names: The Untold History of America's War on Japanese Immigrants
Richter, Paul
Hardcover
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the Cia, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
Talbot, David
Paperback
Bohemians on the Breadline: The Radical Women Artists of Roosevelt's New Deal
Arrington, Lauren
Hardcover
The Flag Was Still There: A History of the American Experiment in Five Anniversaries
Bennett, M. Todd
McKean, David
Hardcover
Kennedy's Only Hero: How Jfk's Obsession with Winston Churchill Defined His Presidency
Nelson, Joel
Hardcover
The President and the Oligarch: Roosevelt, Mellon, and the Triumph of Big Government
Steinmetz, Greg
Hardcover
Every Time a Bell Rings: The Legacy of It's a Wonderful Life, America's Most Beloved Holiday Film
Theisen, Lauren
St James, Emily
Hardcover
How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
Richardson, Heather Cox
Paperback
The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther
Haas, Jeffrey
Paperback
Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America
Kimmel, Michael
Hardcover
Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond
Washington-Williams, Essie Mae
Stadiem, William
Paperback
This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible
Cobb, Charles E., Jr.
Paperback
The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement
Robeck, Cecil M.
Paperback
Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love
Talbot, David
Paperback
How We Get Free (Updated 2nd Edition): Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta
Paperback
The Flight Nurses' War: The American Women Who Saved Thousands of Lives at Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Garrett, Leah
Hardcover
Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City
Ansfield, Bench
Hardcover
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--And How It Shatteredâ a Nation (Large Print Edition)
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Paperback
The Six: The Extraordinary Story of the Grit and Daring of America's First Women Astronauts
Grush, Loren
Paperback
Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, a Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor
Harmon, Mark
Paperback
The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature
English, Charlie
Hardcover
Evidence of the Extraordinary: Discoveries from the Series the Proof Is Out There
Sancho, Miguel
Hardcover
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
Purnell, Sonia
Paperback
The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare
Garber, Marjorie
Hardcover
Martyrs to the Unspeakable: The Assassinations of Jfk, Malcolm, Martin, and Rfk
Douglass, James W.
Hardcover
Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions, and Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders
Anschutz, Philip F.
Hardcover
Guerra Contra Todos Los Puertorriqueños: Revolución Y Terror En La Colonia Americana
Denis, Nelson A.
Paperback
True Blue: The Dramatic History of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Told by the Men Who Lived It
Delsohn, Steve
Paperback
The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne
Sweeney, Chris
Hardcover
The Silver Snarling Trumpet: The Birth of the Grateful Dead--The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunter
Hunter, Robert
Paperback
You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her
McKenna Schmidt, Shannon
Hardcover
The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-Of-The-Century America
Baron, David
Hardcover
The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age
Wellerstein, Alex
Hardcover
A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World's First National Park
Wilson, Randall K.
Paperback
Rolling Stone and the Rise of Hip Capitalism: How a Magazine Born in the 1960s Changed America
Ponce de Leon, Charles L.
Hardcover
Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about Our Past
Zelizer, Julian E.
Kruse, Kevin M.
Hardcover
The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II
Freeman, Gregory A.
Paperback
Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants--And Why It Still Matters
Barba, Lloyd D.
González, Sergio M.
Hardcover
Fire in the Heart of the City: The Triangle Shirtwaist Tragedy and the Origins of Modern Charity
Conrad-Pérez, David
Hardcover
Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh
Painting, Wendy S.
Paperback
The War They Won: The Story of World War II, as told by Those Who Were There
K. Kistler, Lt Hobart
Hardcover