American Disruptor: The Scandalous Life of Leland Stanford

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Univ of California Press, Nov 5, 2019 - Biography & Autobiography - 344 pages
The rags to riches story of the tumultuous tycoon who built Silicon Valley.

American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford – from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" – reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors.

It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him – his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel – a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.
 

Contents

StartUp 2 Everything Ventured 1
1
Crossing
24
The Gold under the Mountain
36
Ditching and Hitching
49
The Road Must Be Built
61
Egyptian Kings and Dynasties Shall Be Forgotten
73
Dungeons and Depredations
85
Living Up to the Landscape
97
Ingeniously Contrived Devices
158
Deposed
170
The Fundamental Standard
183
Sex and Socialism
194
God Forgive Me My Sins Am I Prepared to Meet My Dear Ones?
202
American Disruptor
217
Notes
231
Bibliographical Note
265

Command and Control
107
The Machine of Steam on the Road of Iron
119
Unmasked
130
Gone Dark
144
Index
289
About the Author
299
Copyright

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About the author (2019)

Roland De Wolk is an investigative reporter in print, broadcast, and online journalism. He is a historian, university adjunct, and, of course, an author. 
 

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