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    The Outsider
    Albert M. Greenfield and the Fall of the Protestant Establishment

    Dan Rottenberg (Author)

    9781439908426

    Paperback / softback, published 9 March 2018

    384 pages, 12 halftones
    22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.49 kg

    "In this mainly laudatory biography, Rottenberg traces Greenfield's unlikely story, beginning as a Russian Jewish son of a textile worker through his rapid rise to fortune as a real estate broker, developer, and banker. Though the book deals primarily with Greenfield's business activities, Rottenberg pays close attention to his subject's struggles as a Jew in a world dominated by the entrenched Protestant establishment..... Readers interested in the history of Philadelphia will enjoy the detailed accounts of Greenfield's role in the development of some of the city's most prominent buildings and businesses, and his relationships with generations of business, religious, and civic leaders." 
    —Library Journal

    Albert M. Greenfield (1887-1967), an ambitious immigrant outsider, was courted for his business acumen by mayors, senators, governors, and presidents, including Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. As this feisty Russian Jew built a business empire that encompassed real estate, stores (including Bonwit Teller and Tiffany's), hotels (including the Ben Franklin and the Bellevue-Stratford), banks, newspapers, transportation companies, and even the Loft Candy Corporation, he challenged the entrenched business elite. Greenfield was also instrumental in bringing both major political conventions to Philadelphia in 1948.
     
    In The Outsider, veteran journalist and best-selling author Dan Rottenberg deftly chronicles the astonishing rises, falls, and countless reinventions of this savvy businessman. Greenfield's power allowed him to cross social, religious, and ethnic boundaries with impunity. He alarmed Philadelphia's conservative business and social leaders-Christians and Jews alike-some of whom plotted his downfall.
     
    In this engaging account of Greenfield's fascinating life, Rottenberg demonstrates the extent to which one uniquely brilliant and energetic man pushed the boundaries of society's limitations on individual potential. The Outsider provides a microcosmic look at three twentieth-century upheavals: the rise of Jews as a crucial American business force, the decline of America's Protestant establishment, and the transformation of American cities.

    Preface: The Jews, the Wasps, and the New American Dream

    Author's Disclosure

     

    Prologue: Merion Station, December 1930

     

    PART I: Beginnings

    1. The Wealth in Your Head

    2. The New World

     

    PART II: Power

    3. Broker 

    4. Developer

    5. Banker

     

    PART III: Downfall

    6. The Great Crash

    7. The Protestant Establishment 

    8. The Reckoning

     

    PART IV: Comeback

    9. Merchant Prince

    10. New Deal Democrat

    11. Reluctant Zionist

    12. Godfather

     

    PART V: Legacy

    13. Civic Savior

    14. Lion in Winter

    15. House of Cards

     

    Epilogue: Merion Station, December 1930

     

    Acknowledgments

    Principal Characters

    Notes

    Bibliography

    Index
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