VRIES, BENJAMIN W. DE. Of mettle and metal.

* The author leads the reader from the humble activities of Jewish tradesmen in the war-plagued Holy Roman Empire of the 17th century, a time of persecutions and expulsions from one German country to another, to their ascent to the unofficial but important status of Court Jews, to the establishment of an independent banking- and trading house – and, finally, to the development of several world-wide business conglomerates.