Invisible Giants is the Horatio Alger-esque tale of a pair of
reclusive Cleveland brothers, Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van
Sweringen, who rose from poverty to become two of the most powerful
men in America. They controlled the country's largest railroad
system -- a network of track reaching from the Atlantic to Salt
Lake City and from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. On the eve of the
Great Depression they were close to controlling the country's first
coast-to-coast rail system -- a goal that still eludes us. They
created the model upper-class suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, with
its unique rapid transit access. They built Cleveland's landmark
Terminal Tower and its innovative "city within a city" complex.
Indisputably, they created modern Cleveland.
Yet beyond a small, closely knit circle, the bachelor Van
Sweringen brothers were enigmas. Their actions were aggressive,
creative, and bold, but their manner was modest, mild, and
retiring. Dismissed by many as mere shoe-string financial
manipulators, they created enduring works, which remain strong
today. The Van Sweringen story begins in early-20th-century
Cleveland suburban real estate and reaches its zenith in the heady
late 1920s, amid the turmoil of national transportation power
politics and unprecedented empire-building. As the Great Depression
destroyed many of their fellow financiers, the "Vans" survived
through imaginative stubbornness -- until tragedy ended their
careers almost simultaneously. Invisible Giants is the first
comprehensive biography of these two remarkable if mysterious
men.
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