Thanks for the historical retrospective. What book is that coming from? I question however the soundless of the claims in that book, given that there are two instances where the extract shows that the author isn't being intellectually honest.

According to one source "it was estimated that they controlled half the wealth of the world."

Indirect report of someone unnamed making wild guess by unnamed source. That contains exactly zero information at all. No historian with a minimum of self-respect and elementary understanding of what constitutes information and what is baseless speculation would have included that kind of empty statement full of hot air in his book.

The Kaiser of Germany seems to refer to them when he said, "the magic powers of money as wielded by the Lord of Lucre are powers of Black Magic at its blackest."

This one made me lol. That's a school case of confirmation bias that shows that the author is incapable of telling when he is just making up stuff and when he is inferring from evidence. I for one think that the statement seems to refer to Donald Trump. Let's write a book!

These are only two statements, but they show that the author is grasping at straws to support his thesis, and is biased in his analysis. It can be assumed that bias will have made the author ignore many other elements that would give a different picture or contradict his thesis.