Laurence B. Mussio

The Bank of Montreal is not only Canada's first bank: it has also occupied a prominent place in the pantheon of Canadian nation building. Whom Fortune Favours examines the trajectory of this extraordinary organization across the span of two centuries. The historian Laurence Mussio applies an analytical lens to a financial institution whose strategies fundamentally shaped, and were shaped by, the evolution of a country and a continent. The Bank of Montreal (BMO) represents an extremely rare institution, one that has both endured and adapted to fundamental change. The depth and breadth of the Bank's history offer a unique opportunity to analyze a singular organization over ten generations. As an institution, BMO played a critical part in the destiny of its home city and in the emergence of Canada on an international scene. Crucial to the development of Canadian and North American financial systems, BMO shaped the political economy of banking. Over the last half century, the institution's response to successive economic, technological, demographic, and regulatory shifts illustrates how Canadian and North American finance has adapted to the challenges before it. At its heart, Whom Fortune Favours presents a multifaceted story about the making of contemporary finance. This epic chronicle is the result of a massive research effort incorporating thousands of never-before-released internal documents. Mussio's accessible narrative will appeal to both scholars and executives who seek to understand the origins, development, and present-day implications of one of North America's great institutions.

La Banque de Montréal (BMO), première banque du Canada et l'une des plus anciennes d'Amérique du Nord, figure au panthéon des bâtisseurs de la nation. À qui la fortune sourit retrace deux siècles de cette organisation extraordinaire. L'historien Laurence B. Mussio analyse une institution dont les stratégies auront fondamentalement façonné l'évolution du pays et du continent, et vice-versa. BMO est une institution d'une extrême rareté, par sa capacité à toujours s'adapter aux changements, même les plus radicaux. Cette histoire très fouillée propose un examen sans précédent, sur dix générations, d'une organisation exceptionnelle, qui a joué un rôle prépondérant dans la destinée de sa ville natale. Protagoniste de l'entrée en scène du Canada dans les affaires internationales et pilier de l'élaboration des systèmes financiers canadien et nord-américain, BMO a modelé l'économie politique du secteur bancaire. Sa réaction aux changements économiques, technologiques, démographiques et réglementaires atteste l'adaptabilité de la finance canadienne et nord-américaine à la conjoncture. Cet ouvrage en deux volumes, véritable tour de force, se termine par une réflexion sur la façon dont la direction actuelle peut profiter de l'éclairage du passé afin de régénérer et de renouveler l'une des institutions financières fondatrices du Canada. À qui la fortune sourit est une histoire à multiples facettes de la naissance de la finance contemporaine. Cette chronique épique en deux volumes est le fruit de vastes recherches, y compris dans des milliers de documents internes inédits. L'exposé accessible de Mussio plaira aux spécialistes comme aux cadres qui souhaitent comprendre l'origine, le développement et la place actuelle de l'une des grandes institutions d'Amérique du Nord.

For the past two centuries, the Bank of Montreal has been at the centre of Canada's economic and financial development. Marking the bicentennial of Canada's first bank, A Vision Greater than Themselves tells the story of the financial institution from its origins to the present through its iconography. Exploring the Bank of Montreal's past through images of objects, its leaders, key documents, and forgotten advertisements, Laurence Mussio illustrates how the Bank of Montreal emerged over time. He shares perspectives on leadership, culture, community, triumphs, and challenges to offer a glimpse into the bank's personality, innovations, technologies, nation-building projects, and architectural legacy. The mosaic that emerges provides a unique understanding of the Bank of Montreal's experience over the years. Individually, each visual reveals a self-contained story that is both entertaining and extraordinary. Collectively, these objects impart a much larger story. Throughout this volume's pages, a picture emerges of a bank that has shaped and been shaped by Canada and the North Atlantic world. Examining an astonishing range of material, A Vision Greater than Themselves celebrates the evolution of one bank and how it made its mark.

Au cours des deux derniers siecles, la Banque de Montreal s'est trouvee au c/ur du developpement economique et financier du Canada. Publie a l'occasion du bicentenaire de la premiere banque canadienne, Un destin plus grand que soi puise dans l'iconographie de cette institution financiere pour raconter son histoire de ses origines jusqu'a nos jours. Retracant le passe de la Banque de Montreal grace a des images d'objets, de ses dirigeants, de documents essentiels et de publicites aujourd'hui tombees dans l'oubli, Laurence B. Mussio illustre son emergence progressive. En devoilant petit a petit sa perception de sa direction, sa culture, la communaute, ses triomphes et ses difficultes, il offre un apercu de la personnalite de cette banque, de ses innovations, de ses technologies, de ses projets d'edification de la nation et de son heritage architectural. La mosaique qui en resulte jette un eclairage unique sur l'experience vecue par la Banque de Montreal au fil des ans. Si chacun des elements visuels evoque un episode particulier aussi divertissant qu'extraordinaire, collectivement, ces objets revelent une histoire beaucoup plus complete. De la lecture de ce livre se degage l'image d'une banque qui a faconne l'univers canadien et nord-americain tout en se laissant modeler par lui. A partir d'une gamme incroyablement vaste de documents, Un destin plus grand que soi celebre l'evolution d'une banque et la maniere dont elle a laisse sa marque.

On 19 April 1940 Celso Costantini prophetically wrote in his diary that if Italy followed Hitler into war, it would be allying itself with the "Anti-Christ." Within weeks, Mussolini's fascist regime plunged Italy into the destructive maelstrom of global military conflict. The ensuing years brought world war, the fall of fascism, occupation, liberation, and the emergence of a new political order. The Secrets of a Vatican Cardinal is an extraordinary and detailed behind-the-scenes account of crucial episodes in Europe's wartime history from a unique vantage point: the Vatican and the Eternal City. Costantini, a close advisor to Pope Pius XII, possessed a perspective few of his contemporaries could match. His diaries offer new insights into the great issues of the time - the Nazi occupation, the fall of Mussolini, the tumultuous end of the Italian monarchy, the birth of republican democracy in Italy, and the emergence of a new international order - while also recounting heartbreaking stories of the suffering, perseverance, and heroism of ordinary people. Less than a century later, with the world's attention gripped by the first papal resignation in six hundred years, The Secrets of a Vatican Cardinal presents a clear-eyed, fascinating, and complex portrait of the Roman Catholic Church's recent history.