American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

American Colossus captures the decades between the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century, when a few breathtakingly wealthy businessmen transformed the United States from an agrarian economy to a world power. From the first Pennsylvania oil gushers to the rise of Chicago skyscrapers, this spellbinding narrative shows how men like Morgan, Carnegie, and Rockefeller ushered in a new era of unbridled capitalism. In the end America achieved unimaginable wealth, but not without cost to its traditional democratic values. Contents Prologue: The Capitalist Revolution Part One: The Rise of the Moguls 1 Speculation as Martial Art 2 One Nation Under Rails 3 The First Triumvirate 4 Toil and Trouble Part Two: Frontiers of Enterprise 5 The Conquest of the South 6 Lakota’s Last Stand 7 Profits on the Hoof 8 To Make the Desert Bloom Part Three: Gotham and Gomorrah 9 The Teeming Shore 10 Cities of the Plain 11 Below the El Part Four: The Finest Government Money Can Buy 12 School for Scandal 13 The Spirit of '76 14 Lives of the Parties 15 Capital Improvements Part Five: The Decade of the Century 16 Meet Jim Crow 17 Affairs of the Heartland 18 The Wages of Capitalism 19 Tariff Bill and Dollar Mark 20 Imperial Dreams 21 The Apotheosis of Pierpont Morgan Epilogue: The Democratic Counterrevolution Acknowledgments Notes Index