American Rascal

February 1, 2022

In Race and Reckoning, Cose (The Rage of a Privileged Class) argues that throughout U.S. history racial bias has always shaped key decisions and events (25,000-copy first printing). Ten years in the making, journalist Fairbanks's The Inheritors follows three everyday South Africans over five decades to reveal how the end of apartheid unfolded. From Hager, historian-in-residence at the Presidential Pet Museum, All-American Dogs is organized by historical era to chronicle the 31 U.S. presidents who have kept canines within petting distance at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (100,000-copy first printing; four-color illustrations). Ranging from the early 1800s to the early 2000s, Livingstone reveals the manifold accomplishments of The Women of Rothschild (40,000-copy first printing). In Code Gray, ER physician Nahvi highlights the daily ethical questions faced by doctors in his position (50,000-copy first printing). In Nerd, New York Times critic at large Phillips, who writes about theater and poetry as well as film, shows how pop-culture fan favorites from Star Wars to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Doctor Who have shaped her--and have much to tell us about society at large (50,000-copy first printing). A multi-award-winning British author who specializes in French history and culture--his biographies of Hugo, Rimbaud, and Balzac were all New York Times Best Books--Robb now gives us France from Gaulish times 'til COVID-19. Journalist-turned-money manager Steinmetz (The Richest Man Who Ever Lived) introduces us to an American Rascal--Jay Gould, richer than Rockefeller or even Croesus and the reason Wall Street's first financial reforms were instituted (50,000-copy first printing). Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times best-selling science writer Yong reveals how animals other than humans perceive their surroundings in An Immense World.

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June 20, 2022
Securities analyst Steinmetz (The Richest Man Who Ever Lived) offers a well-rounded biography of railroad tycoon and Wall Street investor Jay Gould (1836–1892). Best known for his greed and underhanded business tactics, Gould also had a positive impact on thousands of lives, according to Steinmetz. Born in upstate New York, Gould left the family farm at age 13 to work as a surveyor, and rapidly gained a reputation as a go-getter. His first big break came when he partnered with congressman Zadock Pratt to open a tannery in Pennsylvania. He also harvested ice and shipped it via railway to New York City and began buying railroad stocks during the Panic of 1857. Eventually, Gould gained control of the Union Pacific and other Western railways at the height of the railroad boom. Steinmetz makes clear that Gould’s lack of ethics fueled his rise; at one point, he spread rumors of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s death in order to shake confidence in the financier’s investment portfolio. Though Gould’s well-documented crimes led to major regulatory reforms, Steinmetz argues that he “did as much as anyone... to build the country” and spur America’s economic growth. This colorful and diligently researched account rescues a Gilded Age robber baron from infamy.

July 1, 2022
The infamous robber baron receives a new assessment. Steinmetz, a money manager and former business reporter for the Wall Street Journal, emphasizes that most Americans admire wealthy business owners provided they build something (Ford, Jobs, etc.) but have less respect for those who make money dealing with money. Jay Gould (1836-1892) remains the epitome of the evil financier, a "champion cheater" who "showed that no act of financial villainy was too bold." Keeping business free of government oversight has always been popular, but many of Gould's contemporaries complained that too many business owners engaged in disreputable and even illegal behavior. Many believed that Gould carried this to a new level, inspiring the first popular demands for reform. The son of a farmer, Gould was intelligent and hardworking. He taught himself surveying and accounting and had established a successful business when barely out of his teens. Contact with other entrepreneurs taught him the ways of the business world, and at age 24, he moved to New York City to start building his fortune. Though Gould's fellow industrialists certainly loved making money and had no objection to bribery and other chicanery, they built entire industries: Rockefeller in oil, Carnegie in steel, Vanderbilt in railroads. Gould, on the other hand, had little interest in operating a business; he just wanted to make money. Steinmetz offers entertaining descriptions of Gould's gutting of the Erie Railroad, the financial panic produced by his effort to control the gold market, and his failed attempt to combine American railroads into a single continental system. Much duplicity involved short selling, bear raids, options, and other technical Wall Street activities, most of which Steinmetz explains in accessible language--though he seems to admire his subject more than he deserves. Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt spent some of their wealth on exemplary American institutions, but there is no Gould University or foundation. A sturdy biography of an American businessman who cared about one thing: money.

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Starred review from July 1, 2022
In this vivid, witty, and well-researched portrait, financier and biographer Steinmetz (The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, 2015) details how speculator and railroad baron Jay Gould used "brains, guile and brute force" to become rich and shape America. Gould was born into a poor farm family in rural Roxbury, New York; then, with surveying and tannery profits, he went to Wall Street. His debut as financial mastermind occurred in the late 1860s, when he beat Cornelius Vanderbilt in a battle between the New York Central and Erie railroads. In the next two decades, Gould held the gold market hostage, acquired many railroads, and grabbed Western Union, the Google of its age. General readers may not fully understand the descriptions of all of Gould's financial maneuvers, but Steinmetz's summaries and overall enthusiasm mitigate this concern. Like Robert Caro's notable biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson, Steinmetz chronicles his subject's strengths and weaknesses within a rich historical context. He ably contrasts how Gould modernized financial markets and America's economy and Gould's willingness to try almost any ploy to get ahead. Readers will enjoy Steinmetz's wonderful background sketches of the Gilded Age and appealing accounts of railroad history.

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