André Oscar Wallenberg founded Stockholms Enskilda Bank, which has become one of Swedens major banks, in the mid 19th century. After a banking crisis in 187879, two of his sons, Knut and Marcus Sr, managed to restore the familys sphere. When other banks and investment companies had been seriously hit by two world wars and the intervening collapse of Ivar Kreugers enterprises, the Wallenbergs were best fitted for the prosperous post-war era. They soon dominated Swedens financial world as well as its expanding export industry.
In Wallenberg The Family that Shaped Swedens Economy, Gunnar Wetterberg traces the history of an outstanding Swedish family. He tells of political complications and financial brainwaves and presents the familys leading men and their feuds. Wetterberg relates the history of the Wallenbergs as a financial dynasty, intertwined with Swedens development into a modern industrial nation. In no other country has a single family had such a strong and multi-facetted position for so many years.
Gunnar Wetterberg, born 1953, is a historian and author, initially a diplomat. Besides heading the 1992 and 1995 Medium-term Surveys at Swedens Finance Ministry, he has been a director of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Head of the Research & Policy Department at the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations. He was awarded the Duke Charles Prize for his biography of the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (15831654) and the Kunskaps Prize for erudition in 2008. He holds an honorary doctorate at the Arts Faculty of Lund University and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
