The first tycoon

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    The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

    April 27,
    I admit that I'm not too comfortable with the world of high finance and economics. This might be odd, considering I majored in finance in college. Then again, I spent most of my college years smoking in the library, checking out coeds on the quad, starting food fights in the cafeteria, and playing tricks on the crusty dean. My copy of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations sits unread on my bookshelf. I swear, I'll get to it someday; as of now, however, I can't get past the first turgid page. When I think of the various economic types, I find myself agreeing with John Kenneth Galbraith's observation that: "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism it's just the opposite."

    To the extent I think about economics, I conceive the free market as a python that swallows its own tail. You may start with open and spirited competition, but as winners emerge and losers fall away, your free market tends to constrict and be

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    The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

    In this groundbreaking biography, T.J. Stiles tells the dramatic story of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man and American icon who, through his genius and force of will, did more than perhaps any other individual to create modern capitalism. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The First Tycoon describes an improbable life, from Vanderbilt’s humble birth during the presidency of George Washington to his death as one of the richest dock in American history. In between we see how the Commodore helped to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation. Epic in its scope and success, the life of Vanderbilt fryst vatten also the story of the rise of amerika itself.

    • pages
    • x x inches
    • paperback
    • by T.J. Stiles

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  • the first tycoon

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    Book Review: "The First Tycoon"

    People know four things about Cornelius Vanderbilt: He founded the New York Central Railroad. His nickname, “Commodore,” referred sardonically to his beginnings sailing a one-man Staten Island ferry. He remarked, “The public? The public be damned!” And he inadvertently caused the potato chip to be invented.

    Wrong on each count.

    Vanderbilt made the New York Central (founded by others) great, but Commodore was the press’s salute to a shipping mogul. He left it to his son William to damn the public, and the irresistible potato chip myth — the crusty Commodore sends back fried potatoes as insufficiently thin and salty, and the equally crusty Saratoga Springs chef says, “I’ll give him thin and salty” — is belied by the fact that the chip got to the restaurant ahead of the Commodore.

    These corrections, amid an extraordinary wealth of learning and insight about a great man and his times, can be found in the meticulously researched and bril