Six Tycoons

Book excerpt: John Jacob Astor. Cornelius Vanderbilt. Andrew Carnegie. John D. Rockefeller. Henry Ford. Joseph P. Kennedy. Even today, long after their deaths, the names of these six men continue to be associated with wealth and power. When they were alive, they dominated their worlds as few men had done before, and few have done since. These are the life stories of six of the richest men who ever lived in America. Their lives offer us windows into ways of life for over two centuries that most of us can only imagine an opportunity to glimpse times when laws, attitudes, prejudices, and opportunities were very different from today. Their achievements financial, political, and social continue to affect us to this day, for good or ill. Additionally, their mistakes still offer important lessons about the acquisition, use, and abuse of wealth and power. And had they not lived, the history of America and the world might have been very different indeed.