The Life and Times of America's First Tycoon

NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD In this groundbreaking biography, T.J. Stiles tells the dramatic story of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man and American icon who, through his genius and force of will, did more than perhaps any other individual to create modern capitalism. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The First Tycoon describes an improbable life, from Vanderbilt’s humble birth during the presidency of George Washington to his death as one of the richest men in American history. In between we see how the Commodore helped to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation. Epic in its scope and success, the life of Vanderbilt is also the story of the rise of America itself.

"Jonathan Goldstein is our premier historian of the trade conducted between Philadelphia and China. His carefully researched new book casts needed light on the China trade of Stephen Girard, a key Philadelphia China trader, and an important figure in early United States business history. One of our first millionaires, Girard bridged several worlds. He was a curious and adaptive American, and the product of the France of his birth, naming his trading ships for enlightenment French philosophes. Goldstein's book looks at Girard's encounter with China, tracking the full arc of his China trading from entry through withdrawal, noting Girard's careful study and trade risk assessment from start to end. This book will be welcomed by scholars in various topics in American, Asian and European history. Its treatment of current popular topics such as cultural differences and perceptions, drugs and smuggling, and issues of national sovereignty and solvency will have popular appeal as well." --Frederic Delano Grant, Jr., attorney and economic historian ". . . ably traces the motivation and preparations for Girard's China ventures, detailing his legitimate commerce as well as the infamous trade in opium, which was itself both a prominent feature and the catalyst for the destruction of the pre-1842 Canton system." --Robert Gardella, emeritus professor of history, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy "Goldstein is one of the major historians studying the Old China Trade and other aspects of the western relationship with China. An important contribution to the literature of the economic relationship between the West and China." --Murray A. Rubinstein, Baruch College, CUNY

Why is Stephen Girard, a figure from late Colonial America, important today? As a teenager, he left home in Bordeaux, France with meager funds and went to sea as a merchant marine, following his family’s tradition. In early summer, 1776, he landed in Phil