American Disruptor : The Scandalous Life of Leland Stanford / Roland De Wolk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Wolk, Roland, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stanford, Leland, 1824-1893.

Stanford, Leland.

Governors--California--Biography.

Governors.

Businesspeople--California--Biography.

Businesspeople.

Legislators--United States--Biography.

Legislators.

California--Politics and government--1850-1950.

California.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 pages)

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford - from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original ";disruptor"; - reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America's transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors. It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America's most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him - his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel - a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford's rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Prologue: Fell Redemption

1. Start-Up

2. Everything Ventured

3. Crossing

4. The Gold under the Mountain

5. Ditching and Hitching

6. "The Road Must Be Built"

7. "Egyptian Kings and Dynasties Shall Be Forgotten"

8. Dungeons and Depredations

9. Living Up to the Landscape

10. Command and Control

11. "The Machine of Steam on the Road of Iron"

12. Unmasked

13. Gone Dark

14. Ingeniously Contrived Devices

15. Deposed

16. The Fundamental Standard

17. Sex and Socialism

18. "God Forgive Me My Sins. Am I Prepared to Meet My Dear Ones?"

Requiem: American Disruptor

Notes

Bibliographical Note

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780520973565

0520973569

OCLC:

1135588759