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Though reviled for more than a century as Wall Street's greatest
villain, Jay Gould was in fact its most original creative genius.
Gould was the robber baron's robber baron, the most astute
financial and business strategist of his time and also the most
widely hated. In "Dark Genius of Wall Street," acclaimed biographer
Edward J. Renehan, Jr., combines lively anecdotes with the rich
social tapestry of the Gilded Age to paint the portrait of the most
talented financial buccaneer of his generation-- and one of the
inventors of modern business.
Jack Kerouac's ON THE ROAD endures as a benchmark in postwar
American Letters and an eternal rite of passage for youth. But how
many of these young readers actually "get" Kerouac's theme of
individual redemption? How many, instead of encountering themselves
in the novel as Kerouac intended, encounter only the ghosts of
others: the "Beats" of Kerouac's era and imagination? In this
penetrating consideration, Ed Renehan reveals Kerouac's main
inspirations (and process) in creating ON THE ROAD, and considers
the impact the book had on both the author and his times. Most
importantly, he examines why the novel Kerouac meant as a banshee
cry against orthodoxy has too often been misconstrued as a
promotional brochure for mock-rebellion: mere imitation of what
others have done before, mere mimicking of the novel's "Beat"
characters.
"Edward Renehan does a great job of shining a light into this dark
episode of American history." - BILLY BRAGG
Blacklists. Political witch-hunts. Congressional inquisitions.
Loyalty oaths. And one brave banjo-wielding patriot willing to risk
prison and professional ruin rather than acquiesce ...
"Pete was] blacklisted during the McCarthy era and had a hard
time, but he never stopped." - BOB DYLAN
"I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my
philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how
I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think
these are very improper questions for any American to be asked
...." - PETE SEEGER, testifying before the House Select Committee
on Un-American Activities, August 1955
Henry James described John Burroughs as a "more humorous, more
available, and more sociable Thoreau." Burroughs's close friend and
mentor Walt Whitman called him an "Audubon of prose." Throughout
his long writing career, the Catskills and Hudson Valley native
infused his writing with images of nature as seen and experienced
within his own home region. "Nature comes home to one most when he
is at home," he wrote, "the stranger and traveler finds her a
stranger and traveler also. One's own landscape comes in time to be
a sort of outlying part of himself; he has sowed himself broadcast
upon it, and it reflects his own moods and feelings; he is
sensitive to the verge of the horizon: cut those trees, and he
bleeds; mar those hills, and he suffers." With this poetic
sensibility and emphasis on the local, Burroughs created a unique
literature of nature - one aptly represented by the essays here-in.
"Please note that all profits from the sale of this book will be
donated to support the educational and environmental programs of
the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc."
CONTENTS
Introduction. A Sharp Lookout. The Falling Leaves. A Snow Storm.
Wild Life in Winter. Winter Neighbors. April. A Young Marsh Hawk.
Strawberries. Speckled Trout. Birch Browsings. Notes by the Way.
The Heart of the Southern Catskills.
The name Charles Stewart Mott is today most widely recognizable
when used in connection with the word Foundation . Established by
the General Motors mogul in 1926, the Charles Stewart Mott
Foundation has made grants in excess of $3 billion over the past
nine decades, both in Mott's adopted hometown of Flint, Michigan,
and around the world. But philanthropy is only one reason the life
of Mott-entrepreneur, industrialist, banker, mayor, and sometimes
even cowboy-is worth knowing about today. Mott was born ten years
after the death of Abraham Lincoln and one year before the 1876
centennial of the founding of the United States. He not only lived
through the most dramatic technological shift and period of
economic growth that had yet been known, but he actively
participated in and contributed to these events as a major
innovator and leader at General Motors, as a public official, and
as a philanthropist who in many ways reinvented the nonprofit
model. Known widely as Mr. Flint, Mott was elected three times as
the city's mayor and played a central role in modernizing and
expanding its infrastructure and institutions. In office, Mott
helped transform Flint from a town capable of efficiently
accommodating a population of roughly thirteen thousand in the
first decade of the twentieth century to a modern metropolis
capable of hosting an industrial middle class of more than one
hundred thousand. This vivid biography portrays a complex,
brilliant, often contradictory, and ultimately fascinating man. His
life-both as a record of himself and as a reflection of his
times-makes for a good and important story that will be enjoyed by
readers interested in Michigan history and politics, the automotive
industry, and global philanthropy.
Using previously unreleased archives, Edward J. Renehan Jr.
narrates the compelling life of Cornelius Vanderbilt: willful
progenitor of modern American business. Vanderbilt made his initial
fortune building ferry and cargo routes for sailing vessels. Then
he moved into steamboats and railroads. With the New York Central,
Vanderbilt established the nation's first major integrated rail
system, linking New York with Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and St.
Louis. At the same time, he played a key role in establishing New
York as the financial center of the United States. When he died in
1877, Vanderbilt left a fortune that, in today's dollars, would
dwarf that of even Bill Gates. Off Wall Street, Vanderbilt was a
hard-drinking egotist and whoremonger devoid of manners or charity.
He disinherited most of his numerous children and received an
editorial rebuke from Mark Twain for his lack of public giving.
"Commodore" sheds startling new light on many aspects of
Vanderbilt's business and private life including, most notably, the
revelation that advanced stage syphilis marred his last years. This
is the definitive biography of a man whose influence on American
life and commerce towers over all who followed him.
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