The Robber Barons

Currently Reading: The Robber Barons by Matthew Josephson

Best For: Fans of Rockefeller, Carnegie, Gould, and the other larger-than life industrialists and financiers who helped built the modern American economy.  Fans of American economic history will enjoy the details of this book.  Also, it is one of the most quoted books from the more contemporary authors.

Favorite Quote: “Vanderbilt, then, combined in himself the new and the old social traits at once.  Something of a sea-dog and a pioneer, endowed with physical courage and high energy as well as craftiness, he was the self-made man, for whom the earlier, ruder frontier America was the native habitat.”

Notes: This book was written in 1934, and, as in the last book I read, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920-1938, that provides pros and cons.  The positive is that I appreciate the fresher take on these men and their accomplishments.  The downside is that the writing style, while providing wonderful quotes like the one above, can be a bit heavy.

Previous book read: Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920-1938

On Deck: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu – It is time for a quick diversion into science fiction.