Vanderbilt was at the center, the king of steamboats and railroads who decried monopolies when it suited him but embraced them when it enriched him. Meanwhile, corporations gained incredible power and influence. Transportation brought the country closer together, for better and worse. During his life, America changed from a country of farmers to a country of workers. Stiles, author of the well-received 2002 biography “ Jesse James,” is a perceptive and witty writer with a remarkable ability to paint a picture of the America in which Vanderbilt lived.

But those who brave its heft will find many rewards. The book’s length will intimidate many casual readers, as will the in-depth discussion of business strategies. In 736 pages, Stiles exhaustively catalogs the strategies of the brute and brilliant force that was Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt’s story is indeed epic, and so is “The First Tycoon.” Not bad for a poorly educated man who couldn’t spell and started at the very bottom before rising to the very top. Stiles in his new history, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt, the “first great corporate tycoon in American history,” would actually “overshadow democratic government,” writes historian T.J. Critics failed to stop him, while smart politicians scrambled to get out of his way.

Perhaps more than anyone else, he ushered in a new era of corporate power in which only fools adhered to strict morals.įrom steamboats to railroads, he controlled the way that Americans moved and created an empire in a country that had just tried to escape one a few decades earlier.Ĭorporate leaders feared, envied, and idolized him. Vanderbilt, a walking ball of intensity, saw to that. No big business, no tycoons.īut then things changed. And for good reason: neither did great industry, cutthroat competition, nor fantastic wealth. When a man named Cornelius Vanderbilt started his career as a lowly boatman in the early 19th century, the word “tycoon” didn’t exist.

The epic life of cornelius vanderbilt