The First Tycoon The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism.
Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire. Lincoln consulted him on steamship strategy during the Civil War; Jay Gould was first his uneasy ally and then sworn enemy; and Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States, was his spiritual counselor. We see Vanderbilt help to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation—in fact, as T. J. Stiles elegantly argues, Vanderbilt did more than perhaps any other individual to create the economic world we live in today.
In The First Tycoon, Stiles offers the first complete, authoritative biography of this titan, and the first comprehensive account of the Commodore’s personal life. It is a sweeping, fast-moving epic, and a complex portrait of the great man. Vanderbilt, Stiles shows, embraced the philosophy of the Jacksonian Democrats and withstood attacks by his conservative enemies for being too competitive. He was a visionary who pioneered business models. He was an unschooled fistfighter who came to command the respect of New York’s social elite. And he was a father who struggled with a gambling-addicted son, a husband who was loving yet abusive, and, finally, an old man who was obsessed with contacting the dead.
The First Tycoon is the exhilarating story of a man and a nation maturing together: the powerful account of a man whose life was as epic and complex as American history itself.
From the Hardcover edition.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars “The First Tycoon” takes you through the history of the entire 19th century
As an avid biography fan, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Cornelius Vanderbilt and his effect on the 19th century. The author has an incredible number of sources from which he wrote the book (all are listed at the back of the book), which is why it is as complete a biography of “The Commodore” as you’re likely to find. You really feel like you understand what living in the 19th century was like, since Vanderbilt was born at the beginning of the century, and died in 1876. It is my preference to learn about the personal lives of the people who’s biographies I read. However, Vanderbilt didn’t have much of a personal life — steamships and the railroad WERE his life, so that is the obvious focus of this book. Even with little discussion about his personal life, I found this an excellent book that I would highly recommend.
4 Stars read it
A fascinating llife story as he starts from almost nothing to become extremly wealthy. more intersting as he bulds his fortune, thenn later when he has it
5 Stars The First Tycoon
This Vanderbilt biography is extremely well researched and exceptionally well written….once started, difficult to put down.
4 Stars Steamboats
If you are interested in knowing everything about the steamboat business in the nineteenth century, this is the book for you.
5 Stars Exceptionally Multi-Dimensional View of the Man and His Times
“For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely?” — 1 Samuel 24:19
Cornelius Vanderbilt was driven by a desire to best his commercial rivals while realizing that he might in the future need to ally with them. As a result, he was a tough competitor while being careful to develop a reputation as someone who was trustworthy. You’ll learn the consequences of this compulsion in The First Tycoon. And I’m sure many will pick up this book wanting to pick up tips on how to accumulate a great fortune.
If you are like me, you’ll find many pleasant surprises in this book as many unexpected perspectives and dimensions emerge. This book could just easily serve as a primer on continuing business model innovation, an expertise that Vanderbilt seems to have had to an extraordinary degree. In addition, the book is a marvelous look into the dynamics of unregulated markets with relatively few competitors and how quickly monopolies and cozy oligopolies emerge that fleece the public. Further, the work does great justice to explaining how to gain cost and competitive advantages in transportation businesses (reduce the price, the hassle, and the costs). Beyond that, The First Tycoon is a definite primer on how to outmaneuver competitors in business and on the stock market. You’ll also learn how to rig an unregulated stock market or to corner the market. Those who are interested in leadership will see many good models of how to go from doing to leading.
If that’s not enough, you’ll also learn about how a great success in business wasn’t such a good father . . . and how he coped with the failings of his youngsters.
Those who like social history will find that the book is filled with much good information about the times and what it was like to live then. You’ll never look at certain parts of New York and New England in the same way after reading about their origins.
Some may complain that they wanted more of a particular aspect of the story. Those who wanted just a biography, an ever deeper look into the man, may be somewhat disappointed. Much of the book doesn’t get below the surface of Vanderbilt’s psyche. But perhaps there wasn’t very much to reveal about someone whom others had reason to avoid annoying.
I thought this book was so revealing that I spent a lot of time studying it, the first time I can say that about any book in recent years. I learned a lot and you will, too!
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