Thursday, January 20, 2011

February Not Fiction Book Discussions

In our last book, The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth and the Epic Story of the Map that Gave America Its Name, we read about the Waldseemüller map, which author Toby Lester says is "the backdrop for something new: a modern epic of Western discovery and manifest destiny in which European explorers, like Odysseus and Alexander and Aeneas before them, wander the known world, roam the high seas, and arrive at unknown shores." In this month's book, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles, we will read about America's own age of discovery and world view of Manifest Destiny as embodied by Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt was born to a humble farming and trading family during George Washington's presidency, when America was still in its infancy, and he died in 1877 as one of the richest men in the nation's history, having through his genius and force of will helped to create the world we live in today. As Stiles notes, Vanderbilt "was an early example of that most modern of characters: the economic man." He helped to create modern capitalism and the corporation through his participation in a revolution in transportation. He rose from ferryman on a wooden ship, to steamboat and transoceanic steamship entrepreneur, to the ruler of a transcontinental railroad empire. This transportation revolution ultimately changed the very landscape of America as people headed West for the Gold Rush. If Vanderbilt's assets had been sold on the day of his death, it would have taken $1 out of every $20 in circulation, including cash and bank deposits--an almost unimaginable wealth.

Stiles has written the first full, authoritative biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt. He argues that previous historical and biographical writing about Vanderbilt was based on dubious testimony given at the trial over his will. Stiles says, "I try to write the kind of book I like to read. My ideal work of nonfiction follows a classic formula: It both informs and entertains. As a historian, I try to draw out the larger meanings. I am drawn to topics that speak to the creation of modern America, that highlight the major themes of the nation's history. I also hope to say something new about them. As a writer, I look for interesting characters, dramatic lives, complicated human relationships. I try to give the reader a reason to turn the page--every page. In short, I like big questions and good stories. In the life of Cornelius Vanderbilt . . . I found a larger-than-life subject badly in need of a new biography. . . . The questions that drove me in writing The First Tycoon go to the heart of American culture, politics, and identity. How have the people of the United States grappled with the collision between opportunity, liberty, and equality? . . . Too often, books that address business figures tend to moralize on one side or the other. Depending on which polemic you pick up, you will read that Vanderbilt was either a merciless, manipulative robber baron or a heroic captain of industry. By contrast, I hope to provide an honest assessment that examines him in the full context of his times. That context was so different from our own that the results are sometimes surprising. When the robber-baron metaphor was invented (specifically for Vanderbilt), it was part of a political framework that simply makes no sense in the twenty-first century. Readers can (and should) draw their own conclusions about whether Vanderbilt was admirable or the opposite, but I hope they will agree, after reading my book, that he was truly significant" (http://www.tjstiles.com/). Critics agree that The First Tycoon is a significant portrait of both Vanderbilt and our culture: it won both the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2009 National Book Award for Nonfiction, and it was selected as one of the best books of the year by many book reviews.

In our discussions, we will consider how Cornelius Vanderbilt helped to create our understanding of our world and our place in it today, especially the complicated roles of business and government in our culture and the essentially urban and suburban landscape we live in.

We hope you will join us: Tuesday, February 1, at 6:00 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, February 17, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; or here on the blog.

Visit Stiles' website at http://www.tjstiles.com/ to read his take on previous biographies of Cornelius Vanderbilt, lists of discoveries first published in The First Tycoon and myths debunked by it, and the Vanderblog, a companion blog to the book.