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American disruptor : the scandalous life of Leland Stanford / Roland De Wolk.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019]Description: xvii, 299 pages, 23 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780520305472
  • 0520305477
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue : fell redemption -- Start up -- Everything ventured -- Crossing -- The gold under the mountain -- Ditching & hitching -- The road must be built -- Egyptian kings and dynasties shall be forgotten -- Dungeons & depredations -- Living up to the landscape -- Command & control -- The machine of steam on the road of iron -- Unmasked -- Gone dark -- Ingeniously contrived devices -- Deposed -- The fundamental standard -- Sex & socialism -- God forgive me my sins : am I prepared to meet my dear ones? -- Requiem American disruptor.
Summary: "The life of Leland Stanford reads like a tall tale of the Old West. Born in a country tavern in upstate New York, Stanford followed the Gold Rush to California, became a successful businessman, and invested in railroads. He then made headway into politics, becoming governor of California and later a US senator. As president of the Central Pacific Railroad, Stanford brought the locomotive Jupiter to preside over the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, which led contemporaries to liken him to the namesake Roman god. He then founded one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Stanford lived large and bold, amassing an astonishing fortune, only to die on the brink of bankruptcy. In American Disruptor, Roland De Wolk balances the accomplishments of this quintessential self-made American man with the darker aspects of his life. He shows how Stanford used high public office to steal taxpayer money, only to squander it on mansions, racehorses, jewels, and vast landholdings. Even the eponymous university in Silicon Valley that bears his name, created from the largest private university endowment of all time, was born of tragedy, a memorial to Stanford's fifteen-year-old son who died from typhoid fever. Following his death, his wife struggled to keep the fledgling university afloat, only to be murdered under mysterious circumstances. Although deeply conservative in belief and style, Leland Stanford's life was one of almost unparalleled risk, failure, and reward. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor helps restore his rightful place as an architect of modern America." -- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Stanford L. D524 Available 33111009565116
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The rags to riches story of Silicon Valley's original disruptor.



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.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-288) and index.

Prologue : fell redemption -- Start up -- Everything ventured -- Crossing -- The gold under the mountain -- Ditching & hitching -- The road must be built -- Egyptian kings and dynasties shall be forgotten -- Dungeons & depredations -- Living up to the landscape -- Command & control -- The machine of steam on the road of iron -- Unmasked -- Gone dark -- Ingeniously contrived devices -- Deposed -- The fundamental standard -- Sex & socialism -- God forgive me my sins : am I prepared to meet my dear ones? -- Requiem American disruptor.

"The life of Leland Stanford reads like a tall tale of the Old West. Born in a country tavern in upstate New York, Stanford followed the Gold Rush to California, became a successful businessman, and invested in railroads. He then made headway into politics, becoming governor of California and later a US senator. As president of the Central Pacific Railroad, Stanford brought the locomotive Jupiter to preside over the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, which led contemporaries to liken him to the namesake Roman god. He then founded one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Stanford lived large and bold, amassing an astonishing fortune, only to die on the brink of bankruptcy. In American Disruptor, Roland De Wolk balances the accomplishments of this quintessential self-made American man with the darker aspects of his life. He shows how Stanford used high public office to steal taxpayer money, only to squander it on mansions, racehorses, jewels, and vast landholdings. Even the eponymous university in Silicon Valley that bears his name, created from the largest private university endowment of all time, was born of tragedy, a memorial to Stanford's fifteen-year-old son who died from typhoid fever. Following his death, his wife struggled to keep the fledgling university afloat, only to be murdered under mysterious circumstances. Although deeply conservative in belief and style, Leland Stanford's life was one of almost unparalleled risk, failure, and reward. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor helps restore his rightful place as an architect of modern America." -- Provided by publisher.

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