The philanthropy of wealthy donors is often cast as a decidedly American phenomenon. Great Philanthropists provides a welcome and much-needed corrective to that view. The book is an outgrowth of a project on Jewish philanthropy in Europe, with articles about donors from South Africa, Europe, the United States, and Japan. Both Christian and Jewish donors are included, with figures as diverse as Nathan Mayer Rothschild (England’s first Lord Rothschild) and King Edward VII, Betty de Rothschild in France, such cosmopolites as Moses Montefiore and Calouste Gulbenkian, South Africa’s Sammy Marks, Ei’ichi Shibusawa in Japan, Friedrich Alfred Krupp and other donors in German cities, and Andrew Mellon in the United States.
Although the geographical focus is admirably broad, the intellectual framework is surprisingly narrow, emphasizing individualism. The result is that many of the articles offer engaging narratives of individual personalities, careers, and gifts, but far less in the way of theoretical...