The Life and Legend of E. H. Harriman
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- USD 29.99
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- USD 29.99
Descripción editorial
To Americans living in the early twentieth century, E. H. Harriman was as familiar a name as J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Like his fellow businessmen, Harriman (1847-1909) had become the symbol for an entire industry: Morgan stood for banking, Rockefeller for oil, Carnegie for iron and steel, and Harriman for railroads. Here, Maury Klein offers the first in-depth biography in more than seventy-five years of this influential yet surprisingly understudied figure.
A Wall Street banker until age fifty, Harriman catapulted into the railroad arena in 1897, gaining control of the Union Pacific Railroad as it emerged from bankruptcy and successfully modernizing every aspect of its operation. He went on to expand his empire by acquiring large stakes in other railroads, including the Southern Pacific and the Baltimore and Ohio, in the process clashing with such foes as James J. Hill, J. P. Morgan, and Theodore Roosevelt.
With its new insights into the myths and controversies that surround Harriman's career, this book reasserts his legacy as one of the great turn-of-the-century business titans.
Originally published 2000.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
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"My time," Edward Henry Harriman once said, "is worth a mule a minute." It was a rare understatement. Known as "the Colossus of Roads," having transformed himself at age 50 from Wall Street banker to audacious transcontinental octopus, Harriman (1847-1909) spent his late years developing, acquiring, merging and modernizing railroads from the Union Pacific to the Burlington. With businesslike authority, Klein (a historian at the University of Rhode Island and author of The Life and Legend of Jay Gould) vividly tells the story of a man who rose from being a minister's son with few prospects to an efficient, visionary entrepreneur. Klein makes a strong argument that, although not as well remembered as his peers, Harriman was in a league with financial titans Rockefeller and Carnegie; indeed, the author suggests, Harriman accomplished as much in a decade as they did in their entire careers. The book suffers from an overabundance of cliches, however, and lacks the clarity of a central organizing theme. Klein bogs down in the minutiae of banking and railroading, and yet it is difficult for readers to evaluate the size of Harriman's fortune since Klein never translates the dollar values into today's terms. Still, by the close of this sprawling epic tale--on the afternoon of Harriman's burial when every train in the magnate's dominion was momentarily stilled, bringing the nation to a near halt--Klein succeeds in persuading us that Harriman created an infrastructure with an important legacy. B&w photos.