A member of the great California mercantile family, Magnin discusses his duties as the volunteer chief of protocol for San Francisco and his longtime role as a leading sponsor of the arts

"'The economic history of European jews' attempts to make sense of the economic foundations of Jewish life in the different parts of late antique and early medieval Europe. In the first part Michael Toch describes the demographic arc, decline, subsequent rise, and spatial distribution of Jewish populations. This data is then broadened to include the range of economic activities. The second part analyses the actual share of Jews in different branches of the economy. This includes the idea of their pioneer role and the notion of an intercontinental network of Jewish commerce, the phenomenon of Jews in agriculture and entrepreneurship, gender roles and the household mode of production, and the difficult subject of the significance of minority status for economic activity, among others"--provided by publisher.

The Laidlaw Foundation was established in 1949 by Walter and Robert Laidlaw, sons of the founder of the R. Laidlaw Lumber Company. This book is a history of the Laidlaw family, how it amassed money, and why the brothers decided to disperse it as they did. Making Change is also a record of the work of the Foundation over the past fifty yea...