In “Kings of Shanghai”, (Little, Brown Book Group, 2020) Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jonathan Kaufman traces the remarkable power, wealth and influence of two dynasties – the Sassoons and the Kadoories – stretching from Baghdad to India to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London. Kaufman writes: “In fact, “the Babylonian Captivity” changed the course of Jewish history. Jewish learning and religious innovation blossomed, giving Jews the religious, political, and economic tools—and a way of thinking—they would use to survive and thrive around the world over the next millennia and through to today. It marked the start of the Jewish diaspora: the dispersal—and survival—of Jews around the world, even when they made up just a small sliver of the population.” – Kaufman, Jonathan (2020-06-01T22:58:59). Kings of Shanghai. Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.  Read more…

An epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era. Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue and survival. Read more…