{"nodes":[{"node":{"nid":"77606","title":"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World","campus":"Online event, Off campus, Washington, D.C.","locations":"New America","college_unit":"The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences","department":"Future Security Initiative","field_cost_value":"Free","event_price_level":"Free","asu_events_price_desc":"Free","body_summary":"\u003Cp\u003EOver the course of the 1850s and 1860s, during the first era of globalization, the world experien\u003C\/p\u003E","full_body":"\u003Cp\u003EOver the course of the 1850s and 1860s, during the first era of globalization, the world experienced an unprecedented economic boom. Fueling this expansion was an explosion in the global bond market, at the hub of which stood one family\u2014the Rothschilds, arguably the wealthiest banking family in history. In the early 1870s, the bubble burst. Stock markets from Vienna to New York crashed, and dozens of railroads and many governments defaulted. Financial officials responded by blundering into a precipitous remaking of the global currency system\u2014exacerbating the ensuing economic collapse and setting the stage for decades of a punitive deflation that sparked waves of anti-globalist populism.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn his new book,\u0026nbsp;1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Liaquat Ahamed examines this enthralling history and how the crisis of 1873 was, among other things, a death blow to Reconstruction in the United States and the proximate cause of the Ottoman Empire\u2019s slow death spiral. He also explores how though the Rothschilds had presciently kept a low profile during the bubble, when the deluge came, they were viciously scapegoated as part of a wider hatred directed at \u201cJewish finance,\u201d a strain of antisemitism that would come to full evil flower during the twentieth century. Ahamed provides a bird\u2019s-eye reckoning with the full dimension of the crisis, from its buildup to its long aftermath, drawing upon the Rothschilds and a cast of other witnesses to give the human perspective.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJoin New America\u2019s Future Security Program at New America\u2019s DC office, as they welcome Liaquat Ahamed for a discussion of his new book\u0026nbsp;1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World. Ahamed graduated with degrees in economics from Cambridge and Harvard, worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and had a twenty-five career as a professional investment manager based in London and New York before turning to writing. His first book,\u0026nbsp;Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World,\u0026nbsp;about the lead up to the 1929 Great Depression, won the Pulitzer Prize for History, the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Gold Medal, and the Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year Award. He is a trustee of the Putnam Funds, an adviser to the Rock Creek Group, and the Chair of the Sun Valley Writers\u2019 Conference.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJoin the conversation online using\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003E#1873book\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;and following\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/x.com\/NewAmericaISP\u0022\u003E@NewAmericaISP.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis event is held in partnership with New America.\u003C\/p\u003E","phone":"","contactname":"Future Security Initiative","email":"events@newamerica.org","delta":"0","alias":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/1873-rothschilds-first-great-depression-and-making-modern-world?id=0","ticketing_rsvp_txt":"Register","ticketing_rsvp_txt2":"","ticketing_rsvp_url":"https:\/\/events.newamerica.org\/1873therothschildsthefirstgreatdepression","ticketing_rsvp_url2":"","website":"","image_url":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/sites\/g\/files\/litvpz3506\/files\/2026-04\/1873.jpg","image_alt":"","image_title":"","start_date":"Jun 5 2026 - 9:00am","end_date":"Jun 5 2026 - 10:00am","time_description":"","very_start_date":"2026-06-05T09:00:00Z","very_end_date":"2026-06-05T10:00:00Z","event_types":"Seminar, Webinar","interests":"Global|History","audiences":"For alumni|For current ASU students|For staff|For faculty|For the community","event_units":"The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences","event_topics":"Free|Open to the public","download":"","event_map_url":"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/tqSMu5Ga35SLqqHN6","event_map_title":"","event_video":"","location_term":"Online event, Off campus, Washington, D.C.","venue_address":"740 15th St NW #900","venue_city":"Washington","venue_state":"D.C.","venue_zip":"20005","alias-indexed":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/1873-rothschilds-first-great-depression-and-making-modern-world?id=0","sport_tag":"","game_type":"","subtitle":"The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World","season":"","athletic_conference":"","tv_network":"","radio_station":"","wear_color":"","game_theme":"","history":"","history_text":"","related_stories":"","related_stories_text":"","game_notes":"","game_notes_text":"","recap_link":"","recap_link_text":"","live_stats":"","live_stats_text":"","game_time_tba":"No","sda_all_day":"No","opponent_logo":"","related_videos":"","related_videos_text":"","recurring":"no"}}]}