The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise)

The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise) PDF Author: Richard Rayner
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393242412
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
"A first-rate look at the little-known story behind the creation of America's first continental railroad…Entertaining and well written." —Publishers Weekly One hundred forty years ago, four shopkeepers in Sacramento, California, rose to become the force behind the American transcontinental railroad, achieving along the way wealth beyond measure. To build influence and maintain power, they lied, bribed, and, when necessary, arranged for obstacles, both human and legal, to disappear. Their names were Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, and they were known as "The Big Four" or "The Associates." Their drive for money—nothing more, nothing less—was epic. Their legacy is a university, public gardens, museums, mansions, banks, and libraries—and to a large degree, California itself. A captivating chronicle of a crucial period in American urban expansion, The Associates is a true-to-life tale of ruthless ambition, staggering greed, and the making of a nation.

The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise)

The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise) PDF Author: Richard Rayner
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393242412
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
"A first-rate look at the little-known story behind the creation of America's first continental railroad…Entertaining and well written." —Publishers Weekly One hundred forty years ago, four shopkeepers in Sacramento, California, rose to become the force behind the American transcontinental railroad, achieving along the way wealth beyond measure. To build influence and maintain power, they lied, bribed, and, when necessary, arranged for obstacles, both human and legal, to disappear. Their names were Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, and they were known as "The Big Four" or "The Associates." Their drive for money—nothing more, nothing less—was epic. Their legacy is a university, public gardens, museums, mansions, banks, and libraries—and to a large degree, California itself. A captivating chronicle of a crucial period in American urban expansion, The Associates is a true-to-life tale of ruthless ambition, staggering greed, and the making of a nation.

Associates

Associates PDF Author: Richard Rayner
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0393059138
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A true-life tale of ruthless ambition, staggering greed, and the making of a nation. One hundred forty years ago, four men rose from their position as middle-class merchants in Sacramento, California, to become the force behind the transcontinental railroad. In the course of doing so, they became wealthy beyond any measure––and to sustain their power, they lied, bribed, wheedled, and, when necessary, arranged for obstacles, both human and legal, to disappear. Their names were Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, and they were known as “The Big Four” or “The Associates.” Their drive for money––nothing more, nothing less––was epic. Their legacy is a university, public gardens, museums, mansions, banks, and libraries––and to a large degree California itself, a state that even today owes its aura of “can-do” and limitless possibilities to The Associates.

The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise)

The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise) PDF Author: Richard Rayner
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393333612
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
A true-life tale of ruthless ambition, staggering greed, and the making of a nation. Four men--Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins--rose from their position as middle-class merchants to become the force behind the transcontinental railroad.

The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years' War Over the American Dollar (Enterprise)

The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years' War Over the American Dollar (Enterprise) PDF Author: H. W. Brands
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393340503
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
An "insightful" (Publishers Weekly) history of the development of American capitalism and the men who made it great. Most Americans are familiar with the political history of the United States, but there is another history woven all through it, a largely forgotten history—the story of the money men. Acclaimed historian H. W. Brands brings them back to life: J. P. Morgan, who stabilized a foundering U.S. Treasury in 1907; Alexander Hamilton, who founded the first national bank, and Nicholas Biddle, under whose directorship it failed; Jay Cooke, who helped to finance the Union war effort through his then-innovative strategy of selling bonds to ordinary Americans; and Jay Gould, who tried to corner the market on gold in 1869 and as a result brought about Black Friday and fled for his life.

Business Scandals, Corruption, and Reform [2 volumes]

Business Scandals, Corruption, and Reform [2 volumes] PDF Author: Gary Giroux
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 774

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Book Description
Written by an expert on financial analysis and capitalism, this book describes the widespread corruption and specific scandals that have occurred throughout history when ethically-challenged innovators and greedy scoundrels are unable to resist the dark side of corruption. Since the dawn of civilization, corruption has had a perpetual impact on the world's economies. In the modern, technology-enabled, global economy, the effects of those who manipulate free-market capitalism for their own gains regardless of methodology continue to be a problem, despite reforms instituted to attempt to discourage the most blatant practices. Business Scandals, Corruption, and Reform: An Encyclopedia contains more than 300 entries that describe the myriad aspects of corruption, business scandals, and attempts at reform, providing not only detailed information about specific accounting scandals and earnings manipulation but also a broad examination of the entire history of business corruption throughout human civilization. Reviewing all the major scandals from tulip mania in the early 17th century to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008 and beyond, the author illuminates how corrupt actors in business and the attempts to eliminate these types of abuses have been instrumental to the developing institutional framework of free-market capitalism.

Business Biographies: Shaken, Not Stirred ... with a Twist

Business Biographies: Shaken, Not Stirred ... with a Twist PDF Author: Stephen Troy
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1450283268
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
Learn life lessons from the expertstwenty-five business leaders who made their marks but did so with a bit of a twist. In this series of profiles, author Stephen K. Troy takes a detailed look at people who walked down nontraditional paths to achieve success. Many of these leaders are no longer celebrated or remembered, but their achievements changed the course of business and continue to influence society. Youll learn about the unassuming billionaire who gave away his entire fortune during his lifetime to better the world. Not everyone was so generous; one scoundrel stole billions. Some are more obscure than others, and this text brings their accomplishments to light. Leaders profiled include Aaron Burr, Henry Ford, John Ringling, Robert Morris, Frank Woolworth, Forrest Mars Sr., Daniel Ludwig, Iva Kreuger and many more. Whether you are a student, a business leader, or someone considering a career in business, youll be entertained, informed, and educated as you read Business Biographies: Shaken, Not Stirred With a Twist.

A Bright and Guilty Place

A Bright and Guilty Place PDF Author: Richard Rayner
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 1400033586
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Best Book of the Year The Los Angeles Times • The Washington Post Los Angeles was the fastest growing city in the world, mad with oil fever, get-rich-quick schemes, and celebrity scandals. It was also rife with organized crime, with a mayor in the pocket of the syndicates and a DA taking bribes to throw trials. In A Bright and Guilty Place, Richard Rayner narrates the entwined lives of two men, Dave Clark and Leslie White, who were caught up in the crimes, murders, and swindles of the day. Over a few transformative years, as the boom times shaded into the Depression, the adventures of Clark and White would inspire pulp fiction and replace L.A.’s reckless optimism with a new cynicism. Together, theirs is the tale of how the city of sunshine went noir.

Read On...History

Read On...History PDF Author: Tina Frolund
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1610694325
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Make history come alive! This book helps librarians and teachers as well as readers themselves find books they will enjoy—titles that will animate and explain the past, entertain, and expand their minds. This invaluable resource offers reading lists of contemporary and classic non-fiction history books and historical fiction, covering all time periods throughout the world, and including practically all manner of human endeavors. Every book included is hand-selected as an entertaining and enlightening read! Organized by appeal characteristics, this book will help readers zero in on the history books they will like best—for instance, titles that emphasize character, tell a specific type of historical story, convey a mood, or are presented in a particular setting. Every book listed has been recommended based on the author's research, and has proved to be a satisfying and worthwhile read.

American Disruptor

American Disruptor PDF Author: Roland De Wolk
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520383230
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
The rags-to-riches story of Silicon Valley's original disruptor. American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford – from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" – reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors. It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him—his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel—a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.

A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America

A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America PDF Author: James Tejani
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324093560
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
"[An] enthralling debut…a beguiling history of Southern California, early industrial development, and U.S. empire." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A deeply researched narrative of the creation of the Port of Los Angeles, a central event in America’s territorial expansion and rise as a global economic power. The Port of Los Angeles is all around us. Objects we use on a daily basis pass through it: furniture, apparel, electronics, automobiles, and much more. The busiest container port in the Western hemisphere, it claims one-sixth of all US ocean shipping. Yet despite its centrality to our world, the port and the story of its making have been neglected in histories of the United States. In A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth, historian James Tejani corrects that significant omission, charting the port’s rise out of the mud and salt marsh of San Pedro estuary—and showing how the story of the port is the story of modern, globalized America itself. By the mid-nineteenth century, Americans had identified the West Coast as the republic’s destiny, a gateway to the riches of the Pacific. In a narrative spanning decades and stretching to Washington, DC, the Pacific Northwest, Civil War Richmond, Southwest deserts, and even overseas to Europe, Hawaii, and Asia, Tejani demonstrates how San Pedro came to be seen as all-important to the nation’s future. It was not virgin land, but dominated by powerful Mexican estates that would not be dislodged easily. Yet American scientists, including the great surveyor George Davidson, imperialist politicians such as Jefferson Davis and William Gwin, and hopeful land speculators, among them the future Union Army general Edward Ord, would wrest control of the estuary, and set the scene for the violence, inequality, and engineering marvels to come. San Pedro was no place for a harbor, Tejani reveals. The port was carved in defiance of nature, using new engineering techniques and massive mechanical dredgers. Business titans such as Collis Huntington and Edward H. Harriman brought their money and corporate influence to the task. But they were outmatched by government reformers, laying the foundations for the port, for the modern city of Los Angeles, and for our globalized world. Interweaving the natural history of San Pedro into this all-too-human history, Tejani vividly describes how a wild coast was made into the engine of American power. A story of imperial dreams and personal ambition, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth is necessary reading for anyone who seeks to understand what the United States was, what it is now, and what it will be.