Review by Choice Review
Not a person, The Scarlet Woman of Wall Street was the name applied to the Erie Railway in the period after the Civil War, apparently because of the many investors who "had been lured by the mostly illusory speculative charms or by the very real economic potential," only to suffer financial losses (the Erie paid only one dividend on its common stock between 1866 and 1942). In this detailed study of the Erie Railway wars in the first decade after the ending of the Civil War, Gordon sifted through numerous contemporary newspapers, periodicals, Wall Street memoirs, and related sources to provide a colorfully written history of these exciting financial battles (some notably described at the time by Charles Francis Adams Jr. with his brother, Henry Adams) and of the lives of the four major combatants--Daniel Drew, Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. The material is generally fascinating, and the 39 illustrations from contemporary sources provide interesting background. The book will interest those seeking a popularly written study of some earlier financiers and of their chicanery in the days of an unregulated Wall Street. College and public library collections. S. L. Engerman University of Rochester
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
A fascinating study of nineteenth-century America that highlights the transformation of New York City from a bustling port and cattle center to an international industrial and financial titan. Early machinations on Wall Street are the general focus, as speculators vie with each other in the no-holds-barred atmosphere of the time. The particular focus is the battle over the Erie Railroad linking New York with the Midwest and the enormous changes wrought by the shift from river to rail transportation. Center stage is Cornelius Vanderbilt, with less sympathetic characters such as Jay Gould and Daniel Drew in the shadows. Smoothly written and splendidly evocative, this account offers a good corrective for those who view the era solely as a time of unprincipled robber barons. It is also recommended for those interested in the early history of Wall Street and its broader cultural influences. Bibliography, notes; to be indexed. BK. 332.64'273 New York Stock Exchange-History-19th century / Wall Street-History-19th century / Capitalists and financiers-U.S.-History-19th century / Erie Railway-History-19th century [OCLC] 88-230
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Starting with the industrial revolution sparked by the steam engine, Gordon ( Overlanding , etc.) chronicles with clarity and wit the evolution of the free-market exchange of the booming post-Civil War era, during which Wall Street became the world's second largest financial center. He focuses on the cutthroat competition and legislative and legal battles for control of New York's regional railways. The Eriethe eponymous Scarlet Womanwas the object of fierce speculation by the notorious confidence man Daniel Drew and such financial tycoons as ``Jubilee'' Jim Fisk and Gould, the latter's gold speculations having almost single-handedly caused the 1869 panic in the Street. By 1870, as competition for Chicago and Western rail connections became acute, a rate war instigated by Vanderbilt broke out between his New York Central and Erie. The assassination of the popular Fisk led to the violent ouster of his partner Gould from Erie's presidency, followed by a steady decline in the railroad's fortunes until its demise as a separate company in the early 1970s. Illustrations not seen by PW. (August) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Railroads were America's first big business; their stock quickly caught the interest not only of prudent investors but of speculators intent on making a quick profit and selling out. Speculation in railroad stocks peaked between the end of the Civil War and the Panic of 1873; nobody was more successfulor ruthlessat manipulating the market than Gould, Fisk, and Vanderbilt, and no railroad was more thoroughly plundered than the hapless Erie. Gordon vividly chronicles this extravagant era, making extensive use of contemporary accounts; his treatment is fair, his writing graceful and witty. The bizarre and tragic Fisk is especially well portrayed. Good popular history; recommended. Paul B. Cors, Univ. of Wyoming Lib., Laramie (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A vivid account of Wall Street's first great scandal, the so-called Erie Railway Wars; by Gordon, an occasional writer for The New York Times, author of Overlanding (1975). This story reverberates with future echoes of the scandals of Boesky and insider trading. Gordon writes of some of the biggest names in high finance in any era, giving the particulars as well as the general background of the ""shrine"" of Wall Street, where moguls like Vanderbilt, Fisk, and Gould worshipped. What makes this tale compelling is that it is, as Gordon puts it, ""the search by the Victorians for one small part of the rules by which they learned to govern their world: those rules that delimited the great game of Wall Street's financial free market. . ."" Gordon presents Daniel Drew--who ""acted exactly as though he believed God to be his silent partner in financial speculations,"" and who was reduced to nothing by the Erie scandals--as manipulated by Vanderbilt, who in turn was made a fool of by the shrewder Gould and Fisk (before the latter's assassination). From the scandals came the term ""watered stock,"" a term that was regnant for some time before government regulation rendered it obsolete. And from the scandals emerged Vanderbilt's lifelong hatred of Gould (""God Almighty has stamped every man's character upon his face,"" the Commodore stated; ""I read Mr. Gould like an open book the first time I saw him""). Gordon, a descendant of Wall Streeters, tells this story with novelistic panache, making of it not only a tale of duplicity but a portrait of an era. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
