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The Big Four Railroad Barons
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Book Synopsis The Big Four Railroad Barons by : Alton Pryor
Download or read book The Big Four Railroad Barons written by Alton Pryor and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-01 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Big Four, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Charles Crocker, ruled California government for 30 years. The southern Pacific Railroad was the single largest corporation in California and controlled 85 percent of the state's railroad tracks. Huntington handed out bribes to legislators, local police and government officials with impunity. At political conventions, agents of the railroad freely circulated the convention floor and dominated the smoke-filled rooms, arranging the nomination of pro-railroad candidates.
Download or read book Railroaded written by Richard White and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize "A powerful book, crowded with telling details and shrewd observations." —Michael Kazin, New York Times Book Review The transcontinental railroads were the first corporate behemoths. Their attempts to generate profits from proliferating debt sparked devastating economic panics. Their dependence on public largesse drew them into the corridors of power, initiating new forms of corruption. Their operations rearranged space and time, remade the landscape of the West, and opened new ways of life and work. Their discriminatory rates sparked a new antimonopoly politics. The transcontinentals were pivotal actors in the making of modern America, but the triumphal myths of the golden spike, Robber Barons larger than life, and an innovative capitalism all die here. Instead we have a new vision of the Gilded Age, often darkly funny, that shows history to be rooted in failure as well as success.
Book Synopsis American Disruptor by : Roland De Wolk
Download or read book American Disruptor written by Roland De Wolk and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Book Synopsis The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise) by : Richard Rayner
Download or read book The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California (Enterprise) written by Richard Rayner and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2009-01-05 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Book Synopsis From Mission to Microchip by : Fred Glass
Download or read book From Mission to Microchip written by Fred Glass and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-06-28 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is no better time than now to consider the labor history of the Golden State. While other states face declining union enrollment rates and the rollback of workersÕ rights, California unions are embracing working immigrants, and voters are protecting core worker rights. WhatÕs the difference? California has held an exceptional place in the imagination of Americans and immigrants since the Gold Rush, which saw the first of many waves of working people moving to the state to find work. From Mission to Microchip unearths the hidden stories of these people throughout CaliforniaÕs history. The difficult task of the stateÕs labor movement has been to overcome perceived barriers such as race, national origin, and language to unite newcomers and natives in their shared interest. As chronicled in this comprehensive history, workers have creatively used collective bargaining, politics, strikes, and varied organizing strategies to find common ground among CaliforniaÕs diverse communities and achieve a measure of economic fairness and social justice. This is an indispensible book for students and scholars of labor history and history of the West, as well as labor activists and organizers.Ê
Book Synopsis Santa Cruz Trains by : Derek R. Whaley
Download or read book Santa Cruz Trains written by Derek R. Whaley and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-02-26 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once there was an endless redwood wilderness, populated by only the hardiest of people. Then, the sudden blast of a steam whistle echoed across the canyons and the valleys-the iron horse had arrived in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Driven by the need to transport materials like lumber and lime to the rest of the world, the railroad brought people seeking out new ways of living, from the remote outposts along Bean and Zayante Creeks to the bustling towns of Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. Bridges and tunnels marked the landscape, and each new station, siding and spur signaled activity: businesses, settlements, and vacation spots. Summer resorts in the mountains evolved into sprawling residential communities which formed the backbone of the towns of the San Lorenzo Valley today. Much of the history of the locations along the route has since been forgotten. This is their story. Third Revision (February 2016) Addenda available at http://www.whaleyland.com/downloads/addenda1.3.pdf Exclusive CreateSpace Discount: Enter MU236Q6V into the coupon code field and get this book for $5.00 off! Offer only valid through CreateSpace. Review this book at GoodReads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25144919)
Book Synopsis Nothing Like It In the World by : Stephen E. Ambrose
Download or read book Nothing Like It In the World written by Stephen E. Ambrose and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-11-06 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.
Download or read book Iron Empires written by Michael Hiltzik and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Hiltzik, the epic tale of the clash for supremacy between America’s railroad titans In 1869, when the final spike was driven into the transcontinental railroad, few were prepared for its seismic aftershocks. Once a hodgepodge of short, squabbling lines, America’s railways soon exploded into a titanic industry helmed by a pageant of speculators, crooks, and visionaries. The vicious competition between empire builders such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, J. P. Morgan, and E. H. Harriman sparked stock market frenzies, panics, and crashes; provoked strikes that upended the relationship between management and labor; transformed the nation’s geography; and culminated in a ferocious two-man battle that shook the nation’s financial markets to their foundations and produced dramatic, lasting changes in the interplay of business and government. Spanning four decades and featuring some of the most iconic figures of the Gilded Age, Iron Empires reveals how the robber barons drove the country into the twentieth century—and almost sent it off the rails.
Book Synopsis The Myth of the Robber Barons by : Burton W. Folsom
Download or read book The Myth of the Robber Barons written by Burton W. Folsom and published by Young Americas Foundation. This book was released on 1991-01-01 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his book The Myth of the Robber Barons, Folsom distinguishes between political entrepreneurs who ran inefficient businesses supported by government favors, and market entrepreneurs who succeeded by providing better and lower-cost products or services, usually while facing vigorous competition.
Book Synopsis Railroads and the American People by : H. Roger Grant
Download or read book Railroads and the American People written by H. Roger Grant and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2012-10-17 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] wealth of vignettes and more than 100 black-and-white illustrations . . . Does a fine job of humanizing the iron horse” (The Wall Street Journal). In this social history of the impact of railroads on American life, H. Roger Grant concentrates on the railroad’s “golden age,” from 1830 to 1930. He explores four fundamental topics—trains and travel, train stations, railroads and community life, and the legacy of railroading in America—illustrating each with carefully chosen period illustrations. Grant recalls the lasting memories left by train travel, both of luxurious Pullman cars and the grit and grind of coal-powered locals. He discusses the important role railroads played for towns and cities across America, not only for the access they provided to distant places and distant markets but also for the depots that were a focus of community life, and reviews the lasting heritage of the railroads in our culture today. This is “an engaging book of train stories” from one of railroading’s finest historians (Choice). “Highly recommended to train buffs and others in love with early railroading.” —Library Journal “With plenty of detail, Grant brings a bygone era back to life, addressing everything from social and commercial appeal, racial and gender issues, safety concerns, and leaps in technology . . . A work that can appeal to both casual and hardcore enthusiasts.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Book Synopsis And I'd Do It Again by : Aimée Crocker
Download or read book And I'd Do It Again written by Aimée Crocker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-09 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the world at her feet and Californian railroad fortunes in her purse, Aimée had a tale or two to tell. Here, she boldly delivers her hilarious memoirs of escaping headhunters in Borneo, avoiding poisoning in Hong Kong and outwitting murder in Shanghai. Not remotely cowered by her skirmishes with sin, shame or vice, Aimée celebrates her quintet of unfortunate husbands including a Russian prince almost forty years her junior and King Kalakaua of Hawaii, emboldened by her forcefulness to hold sway over the faint of heart. Aimée was a woman of means, not always a lady and never what you might call 'proper'. In this laugh-out-loud story of her life, she recounts her adventures with flair, invincibility and unapologetic gusto.
Book Synopsis Empire Express by : David Haward Bain
Download or read book Empire Express written by David Haward Bain and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000-09-01 with total page 1432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the Civil War, the building of the transcontinental railroad was the nineteenth century's most transformative event. Beginning in 1842 with a visionary's dream to span the continent with twin bands of iron, Empire Express captures three dramatic decades in which the United States effectively doubled in size, fought three wars, and began to discover a new national identity. From self--made entrepreneurs such as the Union Pacific's Thomas Durant and era--defining figures such as President Lincoln to the thousands of laborers whose backbreaking work made the railroad possible, this extraordinary narrative summons an astonishing array of voices to give new dimension not only to this epic endeavor but also to the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of an unforgettable period in American history.
Book Synopsis Iron Wheels and Broken Men by : Richard O'Connor
Download or read book Iron Wheels and Broken Men written by Richard O'Connor and published by Penguin Adult HC/TR. This book was released on 1973 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis From the River to the Sea by : John Sedgwick
Download or read book From the River to the Sea written by John Sedgwick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Riveting...A great read, full of colorful characters and outrageous confrontations back when the west was still wild.” —George R.R. Martin A propulsive and panoramic history of one of the most dramatic stories never told—the greatest railroad war of all time, fought by the daring leaders of the Santa Fe and the Rio Grande to seize, control, and create the American West. It is difficult to imagine now, but for all its gorgeous scenery, the American West might have been barren tundra as far as most Americans knew well into the 19th century. While the West was advertised as a paradise on earth to citizens in the East and Midwest, many believed the journey too hazardous to be worthwhile—until 1869, when the first transcontinental railroad changed the face of transportation. Railroad companies soon became the rulers of western expansion, choosing routes, creating brand-new railroad towns, and building up remote settlements like Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Diego, and El Paso into proper cities. But thinning federal grants left the routes incomplete, an opportunity that two brash new railroad men, armed with private investments and determination to build an empire across the Southwest clear to the Pacific, soon seized, leading to the greatest railroad war in American history. In From the River to the Sea, bestselling author John Sedgwick recounts, in vivid and thrilling detail, the decade-long fight between General William J. Palmer, the Civil War hero leading the “little family” of his Rio Grande, and William Barstow Strong, the hard-nosed manager of the corporate-minded Santa Fe. What begins as an accidental rivalry when the two lines cross in Colorado soon evolves into an all-out battle as each man tries to outdo the other—claiming exclusive routes through mountains, narrow passes, and the richest silver mines in the world; enlisting private armies to protect their land and lawyers to find loopholes; dispatching spies to gain information; and even using the power of the press and incurring the wrath of the God-like Robber Baron Jay Gould—to emerge victorious. By the end of the century, one man will fade into anonymity and disgrace. The other will achieve unparalleled success—and in the process, transform a sleepy backwater of thirty thousand called “Los Angeles” into a booming metropolis that will forever change the United States. Filled with colorful characters and high drama, told at the speed of a locomotive, From the River to the Sea is an unforgettable piece of American history “that seems to demand a big-screen treatment” (The New Yorker).
Book Synopsis The Robber Barons by : Matthew Josephson
Download or read book The Robber Barons written by Matthew Josephson and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1962 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes material on John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpoint Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William H. Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, E.H. Harriman, Jay Gould, Jim Fisk, Jay Cooke, Daniel Drew, Henry C. Frick, James J. Hill, Charles M. Schwab, Henry Villard, Standard Oil Company, trusts.
Download or read book The Edge of Anarchy written by Jack Kelly and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Pay attention, because The Edge of Anarchy not only captures the flickering Kinetoscopic spirit of one of the great Labor-Capital showdowns in American history, it helps focus today’s great debates over the power of economic concentration and the rights and futures of American workers." —Brian Alexander, author of Glass House "In gripping detail, The Edge of Anarchy reminds us of what a pivotal figure Eugene V. Debs was in the history of American labor... a tale of courage and the steadfast pursuit of principles at great personal risk." —Tom Clavin, New York Times bestselling author of Dodge City The dramatic story of the explosive 1894 clash of industry, labor, and government that shook the nation and marked a turning point for America. The Edge of Anarchy by Jack Kelly offers a vivid account of the greatest uprising of working people in American history. At the pinnacle of the Gilded Age, a boycott of Pullman sleeping cars by hundreds of thousands of railroad employees brought commerce to a standstill across much of the country. Famine threatened, riots broke out along the rail lines. Soon the U.S. Army was on the march and gunfire rang from the streets of major cities. This epochal tale offers fascinating portraits of two iconic characters of the age. George Pullman, who amassed a fortune by making train travel a pleasure, thought the model town that he built for his workers would erase urban squalor. Eugene Debs, founder of the nation’s first industrial union, was determined to wrench power away from the reigning plutocrats. The clash between the two men’s conflicting ideals pushed the country to what the U.S. Attorney General called “the ragged edge of anarchy.” Many of the themes of The Edge of Anarchy could be taken from today’s headlines—upheaval in America’s industrial heartland, wage stagnation, breakneck technological change, and festering conflict over race, immigration, and inequality. With the country now in a New Gilded Age, this look back at the violent conflict of an earlier era offers illuminating perspectives along with a breathtaking story of a nation on the edge.
Book Synopsis The Inventor and the Tycoon by : Edward Ball
Download or read book The Inventor and the Tycoon written by Edward Ball and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Chicago Tribune Noteworthy Book of the Year Nearly 140 years ago, in frontier California, photographer Eadweard Muybridge captured time with his camera and played it back on a flickering screen, inventing the breakthrough technology of moving pictures. Yet the visionary inventor Muybridge was also a murderer who killed coolly and meticulously, and his trial became a national sensation. Despite Muybridge’s crime, the artist’s patron, railroad tycoon Leland Stanford, founder of Stanford University, hired the photographer to answer the question of whether the four hooves of a running horse ever left the ground all at once—and together these two unlikely men launched the age of visual media. Written with style and passion by National Book Award-winner Edward Ball, this riveting true-crime tale of the partnership between the murderer who invented the movies and the robber baron who built the railroads puts on display the virtues and vices of the great American West.
