NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD In this groundbreaking biography, T.J. Stiles tells the dramatic story of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man and American icon who, through his genius and force of will, did more than perhaps any other individual to create modern capitalism. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The First Tycoon describes an improbable life, from Vanderbilt’s humble birth during the presidency of George Washington to his death as one of the richest men in American history. In between we see how the Commodore helped to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation. Epic in its scope and success, the life of Vanderbilt is also the story of the rise of America itself.
Stripped of the familiar myths surrounding him, Jesse James emerges as a far more significant figure: a ruthless, purposeful and intensely political man who used crimes and notoriety to promote the Confederate cause during the bitter decade that followed the South's surrender at Appomattox. Stiles paints a strikingly new and vivid portrait of the period before the Civil War, during the conflict and its aftermath, both nationally and, more specifically, in the divided border state of James's Missouri. There the great issues of the day were expressed in battles between those who aligned themselves with North or South. Jess and his older brother Frank, sons of a pro-slavery preacher who died in the California Gold Rush and a ferocious Southern mother, served with some of the most savage Confederate guerrillas. At 16, Jesse began his fighting career by killing Unionists neighbours on their doorsteps. In the bloodshed and bitterness that followed the war, we see Jesse and his fellow guerrillas, with their gunfights and hold-ups, become part of the intensely brutal struggle by the White South against the racial egalitarianism and Federal power fostered by Reconstruction. We see how Jesse placed himself squarely in this context with his thirst for attention, his partisan pronouncements and his alliance with a rising ex-Confederate newspaper editor who helped shape Jesse's image for their common purpose. In using violence and the news media to promote a political cause, Jesse James was neither a Robin Hood nor a quaint Wild West figure. Rather, as his life played out across the racial divide, the rise of the Klan, and the expansion of the railroads, he was a forerunner of what we have to call a terrorist. With groundbreaking scholarship and dazzling reinterpretation, T. J. Stiles has refashioned one of the great legends of American history, offering brilliant insights along the way into both the nation and the man.
Stripped of the familiar myths surrounding him, [in this book, Jesse] James emerges a far more significant figure: ruthless, purposeful, intensely political; a man who, in the midst of his crimes and notoriety, made himself a spokesman for the renewal of the Confederate cause during the bitter decade that followed Appomattox ... account of his life, he emerges as far more complicated. Raised in a fiercely pro-slavery atmosphere in bitterly divided Missouri, he began at sixteen to fight alongside some of the most savage Confederate guerrillas. When the Civil War ended, his violent path led him into the brutal conflicts of Reconstruction. [The reader] follow[s] James as he places himself squarely in the forefront of the former Confederates' bid to capture political power with his reckless daring, his visibility, his partisan pronouncements, and his alliance with a rising ex-Confederate editor, John Newman Edwards, who helped shape James's image for their common purpose. In uniting violence and the news media on behalf of a political cause, James was hardly the quaint figure of legend. Rather, as his life played out across the racial divide, the rise of the Klan, and the expansion of the railroads, he was a forerunner of what we have come to call a terrorist.-Dust jacket
They led the armies of the Civil War and forged the most critical and violent chapter in American history...The military leaders, men of impassioned commitment and unrivaled courage, who recorded in vivid detail the war as it was, both on the battlefield and in their hearts and minds. These fascinating narratives are presented chronologically, woven together with insightful editorial notes, and accompanied by over 40 maps; together they comprise the Civil War experience, from daily army life to the sights and sounds of battle, to the moral and strategic decisions that rested upon the commanders' shoulders. Their words bring to life every significant passage in the course of the war...The Battles of Antietam and Bull Run, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge and Gettysburg, the Invasion of Kentucky and the Battle of Perryville...the Union and Confederate strategies and campaigns...the Civil War's naval battles and the guerrilla war...Sherman's siege of Atlanta...and more.
