The Age of Vanderbilt

In the age of steamships, railroads, and gold rush, the titan of titans — up by the bootstraps to unimaginable wealth — was Cornelius Vanderbilt, America’s first tycoon. From a boyhood farming on Staten Island, he built out a country and an economy that we still live in.

A new biography takes us through steam engine, jungle, and robber baron years to the roots of our finance system today.

This hour, On Point: Cornelius Vanderbilt, America’s first tycoon.

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Guests:

T. J. Stiles, an independent historian who focuses on 19th-century America. His new book is "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt." He's also the author of "Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War."
You can read an excerpt from "The Last Tycoon" at RandomHouse.com. Plus, Stiles' own website offers a great deal of background on Vanderbilt and the research that went into the book.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic. He's the author of “Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900″ (2007) and the editor of “Colossus: How the Corporation Changed America” (2001).

On his site, T.J. Stiles offers a long list of "misconceptions," "falsehoods" and "myths" about Cornelius Vanderbilt that he says his biography corrects. Here's a sampling (scroll down this page for the full list):

Vanderbilt cheated at cards.

Vanderbilt hated trains.

Vanderbilt was a boor who chewed tobacco, drank heavily, and spat on carpets.

Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew were enemies.

Vanderbilt's only maneuver on Wall Street was the corner.

Vanderbilt was a corrupt chief executive who hurt his own stockholders to make personal profits.

Vanderbilt was an unfeeling brute who abused his family, especially his epileptic son Cornelius Jeremiah.

Vanderbilt contracted syphilis in 1839, began to suffer dementia in 1868, and was used as an uncomprehending puppet by his son William H. for the rest of his life.

Here are some more historical images from Stiles' site.

The Original Grand Central Depot

The Hudson River as Vanderbilt knew it, with a sidewheel steamboat passing the Hudson highlands.