What makes this book truly remarkable is the author's breathtaking grasp of history as Stiles comes to grips with contemporary essayists such as Charles Francis Adams, who wrote on Vanderbilt, one realizes that his ability to integrate economic, technological, intellectual, and political history makes him one of the most exciting writers in the field.' 'This eminently readable and engaging biography of the richest man in the first hundred years of the United States' independence is a landmark study that significantly enhances one's understanding of U.S. Most important, Stiles shows how Vanderbilt helped to shape American thinking about equality and opportunity and create the modern economic world.įoreign Affairs, September/October 2009, by Walter Russell Mead Along the way, Stiles describes Vanderbilt's personal adventures in the Nicaraguan jungle, his epic campaigns on Wall Street, and the intrigue that divided his family. Rockefeller (with whom Vanderbilt made deals), The First Tycoon recounts Vanderbilt's rise from sailboat ferryman to steamboat entrepreneur, from master of transoceanic steamship lines to builder of a railroad empire.

Ranging from his humble birth on Staten Island during the presidency of George Washington through the days of John D.

The First Tycoon weaves some six years of intensive research (in previously untapped archives) into a fast-paced story of a man and the nation rising together. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie, the Commodore has never received a full and authoritative biography. Of all the key industrialists and financial figures of American history, Vanderbilt may well be the most important. This biography offers a sweeping new account of the business career and personal life of the Commodore-as Vanderbilt was known-the first great corporate tycoon in American history and the founder of the Vanderbilt dynasty. Knopf, Inc., published The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by T.J. A Brief Description of The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

The first tycoon by tj stiles