E H Harriman Railroad Czar

Born Edward Henry Harriman in 1848 of an ordained deacon father in the Presbyterian Church and well-connected socialite mother, Young Edward attended private school in New Jersey and New York, but dropped out at age 14 to take a job as a Wall Street errand boy. He moved up rapidly to become a managing clerk and, ultimately, became a stockbroker with a seat on the New York stock exchange. Harriman began investing his own money in railway stocks, and even married into a railroad family. In 1881, he bought his first railroad company outright in upstate New York and his name soon became synonymous with "railroad." Originally presented in two volumes, his life and history is presented here in one combined edition. GEORGE KENNAN (1845-1924) born in Norwalk, Ohio was an American explorer of Russia, and an authority on Siberia. He made the first of his journeys to East Asia in 1864 as an engineer. Nearly the sole authoritative source of information on that region for many years, Kennan's articles on Siberia were published as Tent Life in Siberia (1870) and Siberia and the Exile System (2 vol., 1891). Additionally, he was the great-uncle of the U.S. diplomat and historian George F. Kennan, with whom he shared a birthday.

Born Edward Henry Harriman in 1848 of an ordained deacon father in the Presbyterian Church and well-connected socialite mother, Young Edward attended private school in New Jersey and New York, but dropped out at age 14 to take a job as a Wall Street errand boy. He moved up rapidly to become a managing clerk and, ultimately, became a stockbroker with a seat on the New York stock exchange. Harriman began investing his own money in railway stocks, and even married into a railroad family. In 1881, he bought his first railroad company outright in upstate New York and his name soon became synonymous with "railroad." Volume 2 of this two-volume biography includes Harriman s Far Eastern Plans and Russia s plan to sell the Chinese Eastern Railroad to his American syndicate. His life and work at his estate, Arden House as well as his foray into a more spiritual life. Included are two fascinating chapters about the rupture of his long-standing friendship with President Theodore Roosevelt.

A riveting narrative of Wall Street buccaneering, political intrigue, and two of American history's most colossal characters, struggling for mastery in an era of social upheaval and rampant inequality. It seemed like no force in the world could slow J. P. Morgan's drive to power. In the summer of 1901, the financier was assembling his next mega-deal: Northern Securities, an enterprise that would affirm his dominance in America's most important industry-the railroads. Then, a bullet from an anarchist's gun put an end to the business-friendly presidency of William McKinley. A new chief executive bounded into office: Theodore Roosevelt. He was convinced that as big business got bigger, the government had to check the influence of the wealthiest or the country would inch ever closer to collapse. By March 1902, battle lines were drawn: the government sued Northern Securities for antitrust violations. But as the case ramped up, the coal miners' union went on strike and the anthracite pits that fueled Morgan's trains and heated the homes of Roosevelt's citizens went silent. With millions of dollars on the line, winter bearing down, and revolution in the air, it was a crisis that neither man alone could solve. Richly detailed and propulsively told, The Hour of Fate is the gripping story of a banker and a president thrown together in the crucible of national emergency even as they fought in court. The outcome of the strike and the case would change the course of our history. Today, as the country again asks whether saving democracy means taming capital, the lessons of Roosevelt and Morgan's time are more urgent than ever. Winner of the 2021 Theodore Roosevelt Association Book Prize Finalist for the Presidential Leadership Book Award