The author of Legions of Rome and Cyrus the Great recounts how Cornelius Vanderbilt fought a war in Central America to protect his business. When he died in 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of the Vanderbilt dynasty, was wealthier than the U.S. Treasury. But he had nearly lost his fortune in 1856, when William Walker, a young rogue from Nashville, set out to conquer Central America and, in the process, take away Vanderbilt’s most profitable shipping business. To win back his empire, Vanderbilt had to win a bloody war involving seven countries. Tycoon’s War tells the story of an epic imperialist duel—a violent battle of capitalist versus idealist, money versus ambition—and a monumental clash of egos that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans. Written by a master storyteller, this incredible true story, impeccably researched and never before told in full, is packed with greed, intrigue, and some of the most hair-raising battle scenes ever written. “A fascinating window into an era when the rules of industrial capitalism were in their infancy and gunboat diplomacy was standard operating procedure. . . . Reads . . . [like a] screenplay treatment for a hell of a movie.” —Wall Street Journal “One incredible story of adventurism gone wild . . . blind ambition, the clash of wills, money, and conquest—all the elements of good story.” —Charleston Post and Courier “The sheer drama of the story, ably conveyed by Dando-Collins’s efficient prose, sweeps the reader along through the misadventure.” —Providence Journal
Tycoons, Scorchers, and Outlaws charts how auto racing was shaped by class tensions between the millionaires who invented it, the public who resented their seizure of the public roads, and the working class drivers who viewed the sport as a ...
Before the robber barons there were Civil War barons--a remarkable yet largely unknown group of men whose contributions won the war and shaped America's future.
The untold story of an eccentric Wall Street tycoon and the circle of scientific geniuses he assembled before World War II to develop the science for radar and the atomic bomb.
For several weeks, the stock market battle had fallen silent, with the Transit Company stock lying exhausted below 30. Just before Christmas, Vanderbilt and his friends began to buy heavily. Aroused by the large purchases, ...
Embarrassed billionaires tried to keep a lid on this story, but it cried out to be told: how America's greatest comic-book company was driven to the brink of insolvency by...
The resistance, in Africa and elsewhere, which Tandon describes here, is a source of hope for the future." —Noam Chomsky "A necessary and timely contribution which goes to the roots of the deep crises we face as humanity." —Vandana ...
Taking Hawaii reads like an exciting novel, yet this tale of a grab for power, of misjudgment and injustice, truly took place. Judge for yourself whether you think the queen of Hawaii was wronged, or was wrong.
See under Ponca Indians Burnham, Horace B. (Colonel), 99, 111 Burnham, Leavitt, 146 Burnside, Ambrose (General), 6 Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 157, 219 Carpenter, William L. (Lieutenant), 47, 48–49, 55, 61, 62, 67, 68, 86, 100, 107, ...
In The Great Fire of Rome, Dando-Collins takes readers through the streets of ancient Rome, where unrest simmers, and into the imperial palace, where political intrigue seethes, relating a pot-boiler story filled with fascinating historical ...
Looks at the role of four giants of industry in creating the modern American economy, tracing their rise to wealth and power in the years following the Civil War, their individual approaches to business, and their fostering of the growth of ...