{"id":52699,"date":"2026-04-08T18:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/?post_type=event&p=52699"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:29:02","slug":"1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/","title":{"rendered":"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World"},"author":60,"template":"","issue_tax":[319],"topic_tax":[],"program_tax":[106],"project_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"fellowship_tax":[],"event_type":[69],"class_list":["post-52699","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","event_type-hybrid"],"acf":{"details":{"hero_type":"small-image","abstract":"Join author Liaquat Ahamed to discuss his new book that follows the buildup and aftermath of the crisis of 1873.","subheading":"","featured_image":53425,"caption":"","youtube_id":"","location":"","location_line_2":"","location_line_3":"","location_note":"","registration_cta":{"title":"RSVP","url":"https:\/\/events.newamerica.org\/1873therothschildsthefirstgreatdepression","target":""},"helper_taxonomies":{"issue_tax":[319],"topic_tax":false,"program_tax":[106],"project_tax":false,"person_tax":false,"fellowship_tax":false,"event_type":69,"location":false,"insight_type":false,"award":false,"podcast_show_tax":false,"person_type":false,"demographic_key":false,"survey_topic":false,"organization":false},"date_time":{"all_day":false,"":null,"start_date":"20260605","start_time":"12:00:00","end_date":"20260605","end_time":"13:00:00"}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"add_background_color":false,"content":"Over 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.\r\n\r\nIn his new book,\u00a01873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World<\/em>, 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.\r\n\r\nJoin New America's Future Security Program at New America\u2019s DC office, as they welcome Liaquat Ahamed for a discussion of his new book\u00a01873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World<\/em>. 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,\u00a0Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World,<\/em> 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. He is also a former member of New America's board.\r\n\r\nJoin the conversation online using\u00a0#1873book<\/strong>\u00a0and following\u00a0@NewAmericaISP.<\/a>\r\n\r\nThis event is held in partnership with the Future Security Initiative at Arizona State University","":null,"drop_cap":false,"anchor_id":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_person_group","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_person_group":{"width":"narrow","headline_style":"small","manually_curate":true,"heading":"Speakers","button":null,"person_type":null,"people":[{"choose_person":"post","post":[5317],"image":null,"name":"","title":"","link":null},{"choose_person":"custom","post":null,"image":"","name":"Liaquat Ahamed","title":"Author, 1873 Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Lords of Finance","link":""}],"":null,"anchor_id":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_taxonomies","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_taxonomies":{"":null,"anchor_id":""}}]},"yoast_head":"\n1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World - New America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"New America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewAmerica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-30T19:29:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NewAmerica\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/\",\"name\":\"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World - New America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-08T22:02:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-30T19:29:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png\",\"width\":700,\"height\":440,\"caption\":\"1873 Book cover\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/\",\"name\":\"New America - Big Ideas and Bold Solutions\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"New America\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Logo-on-Medium-Teal_1200x675.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Logo-on-Medium-Teal_1200x675.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"New America\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewAmerica\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/NewAmerica\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/new-america\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NewamericaOrgideas\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/newamericaorg\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World - New America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World","og_url":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/","og_site_name":"New America","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewAmerica","article_modified_time":"2026-04-30T19:29:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":440,"url":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@NewAmerica","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/","url":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/","name":"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World - New America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png","datePublished":"2026-04-08T22:02:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-30T19:29:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1873BookCover.png","width":700,"height":440,"caption":"1873 Book cover"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/events\/1873-the-rothschilds-the-first-great-depression-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/","name":"New America - Big Ideas and Bold Solutions","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#organization","name":"New America","url":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Logo-on-Medium-Teal_1200x675.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Logo-on-Medium-Teal_1200x675.jpg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"New America"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewAmerica","https:\/\/x.com\/NewAmerica","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/new-america","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NewamericaOrgideas","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/newamericaorg\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/52699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issue_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_tax?post=52699"},{"taxonomy":"topic_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic_tax?post=52699"},{"taxonomy":"program_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_tax?post=52699"},{"taxonomy":"project_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tax?post=52699"},{"taxonomy":"person_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person_tax?post=52699"},{"taxonomy":"fellowship_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fellowship_tax?post=52699"},{"taxonomy":"event_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_type?post=52699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}