Book Review: Douglas Brunt’s The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel |
Straightforward, simple, engaging, informative, all-encompassing: These descriptions capture "The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel" handsomely.
The latest historical/biographical epic written by New York Times bestseller Douglas Brunt does not disappoint, but takes an unknown subject, explores its international implications, and reveals in a persuasive, engaging fashion how interesting a supposedly marginal facet of European history can be, and how it had international implications, even for the United States, and especially for today.
Brunt takes the reader on a detailed history tour, not just of a once-famed oil magnate and his family enterprise, but also of his interactions with Russian dignitaries, the rise of Soviet revolutionaries, and the economic and political power plays of a committed family of entrepreneurs.
He combines sweeping views and historical venues, centering his history on the famed life and work of the Nobel family. Not just Alfred, who invited dynamite, then established the Nobel Peace Prize program and ceremony to reward those who do good for humanity. Brunt tells us about the little-known (until now) nephew Emanuel, named after Swedish Nobel patriarch Immanuel.
The Nobels were quite a noble family, engaging in all kinds of inventions, factory output, and energy distribution. Patriarch Immanuel faced hard times, trying to secure business contracts with the Swedish and Russian governments. The family endured privations, but the innovative spirit never left the family. While Immanuel ended his life in relative ruin and poverty, his children and grandchildren would succeed him and achieve considerable success.
Brunt doesn’t dwell too much on the failures of the Nobel patriarch, but expounds on the widespread accomplishments of his sons through the mid-1800s into the early 1900s. Before the Great War and the Russian Revolution(s) that followed, the Nobel Brothers (Robert and Ludvig) would establish a........