THE SASSOONS The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire

Narrator James Lurie's voice is amiable and a bit sandpapery; it's especially effective in holding listener interest through specialized and sometimes marginal histories and biographies. Here he brings focus and definition to a family chronicle that's thin on drama and memorable characters but strong on social history. Over two centuries the Sassoon dynasty of Baghdadi Jews headquartered in Bombay built a vast trading empire founded on cotton and opium. The Sassoons ascended to the British peerage and even produced an important British poet, Sigfried Sassoon. Lurie smoothly assumes the persona of author Joseph Sassoon. He is not related to the Sassoon family but was given access to their archives--wherein he found this vital and consequential history. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2023]