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Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
Arthur T. Vanderbilt II · back to the book
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThe Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty that Armed Germany at War
William Manchester · 1,022 pages
The worldly philosophers
Robert L. Heilbroner · 342 pages
Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Laura Hillenbrand · 453 pages
Retraces the journey of Seabiscuit, a horse with crooked legs and a pathetic tail that made racing history in 1938, thanks to the efforts of a trainer, owner, and jockey who transformed a bottom-level racehorse into a legend.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Jack Weatherford · 352 pages
The name Genghis Khan often conjures the image of a relentless, bloodthirsty barbarian on horseback leading a ruthless band of nomadic warriors in the looting of the civilized world. But the surprising truth is that Genghis Khan was a visionary leader whose conquests joined backward Europe with the flourishing cultures of Asia to trigger a global awakening, an unprecedented explosion of technologi
Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend
Mitchell Zuckoff · 440 pages
You've heard of the scheme. Now comes the man behind it. In Mitchell Zuckoff's exhilarating book, the first nonfiction account of Charles Ponzi, we meet the charismatic rogue who launched the most famous and extraordinary scam in the annals of American finance.It was a time when anything seemed possible--instant wealth, glittering fame, fabulous luxury--and for a run of magical weeks in the spring
The Rothschilds
Virginia Cowles · 304 pages
A comprehensive history of three generations of the Rothschilds, and their influence across two generations of European history.
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
H.W. Brands · 888 pages
A sweeping biography of the life and political career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt draws on archival materials, public speeches, interviews with family and colleagues, and personal correspondence to examine FDR's political leadership in a dark time of Depression and war, his championship of the poor, his revolutionary New Deal legislation, and his legacy for the future.
Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty
Catherine Bailey · 448 pages
The House of Rothschild, Vol 1: Money's Prophets, 1798-1848
Niall Ferguson · 596 pages
This second volume of Niall Ferguson's acclaimed, landmark history of the legendary Rothschild banking dynasty concludes his myth-breaking portrait of one of the most powerful and fascinating families of modern times. With all the depth, clarity and drama with which he traced the Rothschild's ascent, Ferguson shows how their power waned as conflicts from Crimea to the Second World War repeatedly t
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson · 635 pages
In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. She interviewed more than a t
FDR
Jean Edward Smith, Marc Cashman · 869 pages
One of today's premier biographers has written a modern, comprehensive, indeed ultimate book on the epic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In this superlative volume, Jean Edward Smith combines contemporary scholarship and a broad range of primary source material to provide an engrossing narrative of one of America's greatest presidents.This is a portrait painted in broad strokes and fine details
Grand Pursuit: A History of Economic Genius
Sylvia Nasar · 558 pages
A brilliant new approach to the story of modern economics and to understanding how we got into today's financial mess. As the twenty-first century faces new and ever more daunting economic obstacles, Sylvia Nasar tells the story of how our financial world came to function as it does today, and how a handful of men and women would change the lives of every person on the planet. Economics was not al
Coolidge
Amity Shlaes · 565 pages
From the Publisher... Amity Shlaes chronicles a riveting portrait of a great American president, Calvin Coolidge, who served in office in the 1920s. He was known to many as "Silent Cal" and to some as "Scrooge." His personality portrayed a quiet, passive man, old fashioned, but the most modern of all presidents. His discipline represented strength, and he was admired for his courage. From the g
Keynes Hayek: The Clash that Defined Modern Economics
Nicholas Wapshott · 400 pages
As the stock market crash of 1929 plunged the world into turmoil, two men emerged with competing claims on how to restore balance to economies gone awry. John Maynard Keynes, the mercurial Cambridge economist, believed that government had a duty to spend when others would not. He met his opposite in a little-known Austrian economics professor, Friedrich Hayek, who considered attempts to intervene
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King
Rich Cohen · 270 pages
When Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, he was tall, gangly, and penniless. When he died in the grandest house in New Orleans sixty-nine years later, he was among the richest, most powerful men in the world. In between, he worked as a fruit peddler, banana hauler, dockside hustler, and plantation owner. He battled and conquered the United Fruit Company, becoming a symbol of the best and w
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
Liaquat Ahamed · 564 pages
With penetrating insights for today, this vital history of the world economic collapse of the late 1920s offers unforgettable portraits of the four men whose personal and professional actions as heads of their respective central banks changed the course of the twentieth centuryIt is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a confluence of events beyond any one p
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
T.J. Stiles · 719 pages
A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism.Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington's presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation's largest fleet o
Alexander Hamilton
Ron Chernow · 832 pages
From National Book Award winner Ron Chernow, a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, National Book Award winner Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. Acc
Andrew Carnegie
David Nasaw · 896 pages
In this magnificent biography, celebrated historian David Nasaw brings to life the fascinating rags- to-riches story of one of our most iconic business legends—Andrew Carnegie, America's first modern titan. From his first job as a bobbin boy at age thirteen to his status as the richest man in the world upon retirement, Carnegie was the embodiment of the American dream and the prototype of today's
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Erik Larson · 464 pages
From back cover: Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spell-binding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men - the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik
The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order
Benn Steil · 478 pages
King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father
Brooke Barbier · 320 pages
The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America
John D. Gartner · 368 pages