Dark genius of Wall Street
Subtitle: the misunderstood life of Jay Gould, king of the robber barons
By: Edward Renehan
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2006
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9780465068852; 9780465068869
Subjects: Capitalists and financiers; Businessmen; Biography
Description: Jay Gould was the robber baron's robber baron: the greatest financial and business genius of his time and also the most widely hated. Gould was the undisputed master of the nation's railroads and telegraph systems at a time when these were the fastest-growing new technologies of the age. He created new ways of manipulating markets, assembling capital and swallowing his competitors. Many of these methods are now standard practice; others were among the first practices prohibited by the SEC when it came into being in the 1930s. Biographer Renehan combines lively anecdotes with the rich social tapestry of the Gilded Age to create the first balanced biography of a figure whose stature in his era outranks that of Bill Gates, a man who was undoubtedly the greatest financial genius of his age--and one of the inventors of modern business.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-334) and index.
Table of contents: title: The mysterious bearded Gould; title: Ancestors; title: Twelve lines by night; title: A deliberate student; title: Rat traps and maps; title: Hidden mysteries of life and death; title: Gouldsboro; title: Our best friends tell us our faults; title: Cunning lunacy; title: The Gouldsboro war; title: A particular future; title: Much to get done; title: The Erie in chains; title: Blue fire; title: The abused machinery of the law; title: An almighty robbery; title: Scoundrels; title: The smartest man in America; title: Where the woodbine twineth; title: Mephistopheles; title: A special stinkpot; title: A damned villain; title: Transcontinental; title: Consolidation; title: Everything but a good name; title: Wires and els; title: Ambition satisfied; title: Epilogue: The Goulds after Jay.