Publication

2005-05-24 - Basic Books

Language

English

Word Count

88,000 words, Guess

Page Count

352 pages

Identifiers

Description

Jay Gould was the robber baron's robber baron: the greatest financial and business genius of his time and also the most widely hated. Gould was the undisputed master of the nation's railroads and telegraph systems at a time when these were the fastest-growing new technologies of the age. He created new ways of manipulating markets, assembling capital and swallowing his competitors. Many of these methods are now standard practice; others were among the first practices prohibited by the SEC when it came into being in the 1930s. Biographer Renehan combines lively anecdotes with the rich social tapestry of the Gilded Age to create the first balanced biography of a figure whose stature in his era outranks that of Bill Gates, a man who was undoubtedly the greatest financial genius of his age--and one of the inventors of modern business.--From publisher description.

First Sentence

OUTSIDE THE TOWNHOUSE at the northeast corner of Forty-seventh Street and Fifth Avenue a stray adventurer did a good business selling freshly printed calling cards with the chiseled name of one of the sons: Edwin Gould.

Subjects

Other Editions

  • The Dark Genius Of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber BaronsBasic Books2005-05-24

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