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Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt | 
 enlarge | Author: Jr.", Edward J. "renehan
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 114335
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0465002552
Dewey Decimal Number: 385.092
EAN: 9780465002559
ASIN: 0465002552
Publication Date: October 15, 2007
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Product Description
Using previously unreleased archives, Edward J. Renehan Jr. narrates the compelling life of Cornelius Vanderbilt: willful progenitor of modern American business. Vanderbilt made his initial fortune building ferry and cargo routes for sailing vessels. Then he moved into steamboats and railroads. With the New York Central, Vanderbilt established the nation’s first major integrated rail system, linking New York with Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis. At the same time, he played a key role in establishing New York as the financial center of the United States. When he died in 1877, Vanderbilt left a fortune that, in today’s dollars, would dwarf that of even Bill Gates. Off Wall Street, Vanderbilt was a hard-drinking egotist and whoremonger devoid of manners or charity. He disinherited most of his numerous children and received an editorial rebuke from Mark Twain for his lack of public giving. Commodore sheds startling new light on many aspects of Vanderbilt’s business and private life including, most notably, the revelation that advanced stage syphilis marred his last years. This is the definitive biography of a man whose influence on American life and commerce towers over all who followed him.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 I get it, Vanderbilt was illiterate, get back to his achievements! June 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
My recommendation on this book is very nuanced. This book is very good in that it is an excellent collection of facts on "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt. More specifically, this is one of the few, greatly detailed books on the Commodore in existence. In this biography, you will read about Vanderbilt's ingenuity as a steamship captain, his defiant stance and eventual victory against the state-enforced steamboat monopoly of Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston, his prodigious success as a railroad magnate and his spirited offer to personally help, as a steamship captain, the Union army hunt down the USS Merrimack, an ironclad steam-propelled Confederate warship. The adventures of Cornelius Vanderbilt often reads better than fiction!
Unfortunately, this book is often unpleasant to read because the author seems to relish bashing Cornelius Vanderbilt for many of his colorful but reprehensible personal attributes. Renehan really seems to go out of his way to gleefully remind the readers how Cornelius Vanderbilt was illiterate, how he displayed little command of the English language and how he seemed to ridicule and despise individuals who valued intellectual pursuits. To me, it almost seemed as if the author wanted to persuade the readers that despite Vanderbilt's immense business achievements, he cannot really be that great because he cannot spell properly.
This schadenfreude towards Vanderbilt is further exemplified in how the author really seems to take great pleasure in reporting Vanderbilt getting swindled by Jay Gould during his struggle for control of the Erie Railroad. The author unsympathetically describes Vanderbilt as having to "lick his wounds" as if he is a pathetic, scalded dog who got what he deserved and not a great businessmen who was sold fraudulent stock certificates (as implies the allegation against Jay Gould).
Not to leave any personal vice unexplored, this book also delves into Vanderbilt's unadmirable relationships with the many women in his life. In this book, you will learn about Vanderbilt's habitual womanizing with the most uncouth of women, his being cajoled by his girlfriends to bankroll the mass production of Marxist literature, his (eventually fatal) contraction of STDs and in the grand finale of all odious personal acts, his (presumably unjust) institutionalization of his wife allegedly to allow him to continue his illicit affairs. If the last part is even remotely true, then Vanderbilt has truly led a disgusting personal life.
To be clear, I certainly do not think that the author should deny that Cornelius Vanderbilt did not live an admirable personal life. However, the only reason why Cornelius Vanderbilt is in history books is because of his achievements as a great industrialist. The relentless descriptions of Vanderbilt's illiteracy, his philandering, his boorishness and his other negative attributes is at best overemphasized, if not downright annoying and immature. I did not get this book because I wanted to read about what a horrible personal Cornelius Vanderbilt was; I read this book because I wanted to get a better understanding of his remarkable achievements as an industrialist.
In summary, a good book on Cornelius Vanderbilt today is a scarce reason indeed. For this reason, I definitely recommend this book until something better comes along as it is a very good source of information on Vanderbilt's accomplishments as a businessman. However, be warned of the constant bashing of Vanderbilt for his hideous personal character contained within, as it really is irritating.
 Commodore May 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
At his death in 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt, the "Commodore", had amassed more money than any American. Edward J. Renahan's book is a brief examination of his personal and professional life. Vanderbilt was born on Staten Island, New York, to a poor family that had to sail if they were to escape from their relative isolation. From his earliest days, Vanderbilt provided reliable transpoprtation of people and freight for the lowest fees. Gradually, he acquired larger and more modern craft and expanded his activities around the Northeast, and then the Western hemisphere. He acquired his first railroad as a short connector between docks, but eventually came to control or own stock in many rail companies. What made Vanderbilt different from most people was his drive to keep expanding. Not only did he increase water routes, but he branched into steamships, then to railroads and finally to backroom stock manipulation. Most people would have curtailed their radical growth and been content to do one thing well, but Vanderbilt was comfortable with the constant thrill of new routes, better machines and continual competition. The competition was cutthroat and many big lines would have gladly smothered the hard-working Vanderbilt had he not moved into less developed, more profitable arenas. And, he had no compunctions about strangling his rivals whenever he could.
Renehan's portrait of the Commodore is generally unfavorable. He was a wiley businessman and had practices that are now illegal. He treated his family badly- eg. had his wife committed when she refused to move to a new home. He also was intent on keeping his fortune together and left scraps to most of his children. (Only one son, Billy, won his approval as the mogul who would take his place.) The Commodore had a weakness for lower class harlots and paid for his wenching by dying miserably of syphilis. Perhaps most damning, is the fact that Vanderbilt gave away very little of his fortune. (Vanderbilt University somehow coaxed about $1 million from him, but noblesse oblige was not in his world view.
Despite this, there are admirable traits that shine through. Vanderbilt had no family connections or inherited wealth to draw from. He was virtually illiterate and required secretaries to read and write his business transactions. He lacked polish and the drawing room manners so essential for acceptance in New York society. But, the Commodore didn't pretend to be what he was not. He did not waste his money fawning over European arts and pleasures; racing steeds and racy strumpets seem to have been his only extravagances. There seems to be a solid historical record of Vanderbilt's business dealings, but this biography lacks the family tales and back-room, old boy yarns that would give this book more human interest. (I don't know that this is the author's fault- maybe the Commodore was silent or humorless.) Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable study of one of the 19th century's most important men.
Good biography, better story March 18, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Cornelius Vanderbilt's life makes for anything but a dull story. It is a classic 19th century rags to riches story in which a farmer's cunning and pugnacious son forges a powerful shipping empire through any means at his disposal. The Commodore goes so far as to orchestrate a coup against an American puppet government in Nicaragua to push up the value of his stock. Renehan spins a fine yarn, but also dwells in tedious detail on the antitrust and state vs. federal government dynamic - i.e. his sections on Ogden and Gibbons - which are unnecessary and less relevant in a brief book about Vanderbilt.
Overall, the book is informative and colored with choice anecdotes. During his slow syphilis induced demise, a septuagenarian Vanderbilt takes a pair of young sisters - one only in her twenties - as mistresses which he believes to have magnetic healing powers. Ultimately the two women go on to start the first female owned brokerage - relying on inside information provided by Vanderbilt's son in an effort to keep them away from his married father - the Commodore.
 How a nearly illiterate man created a historic fortune February 14, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Tycoon "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt is an important figure in the history of American business. Author Edward J. Renehan Jr. set out to "put a face" on Vanderbilt's ambition, enterprise and mania for wealth, and he succeeded. You will get a solid understanding of the vast, rapid changes the U.S. experienced during Vanderbilt's life and his significant role in that change. His descendants, including his granddaughter, designer Gloria Vanderbilt, and her son, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, continue to be prominent. Though this interesting, reportorial biography could have focused more on the historic context and economic impact of this financial giant, and a bit less on his all-too-human failings, getAbstract finds that it deserves to be read by anyone who is interested in American history.
enjoyable, yet slightly off the mark February 2, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Author has previously done marvelous work with the Jay Gould biography. In this case, while the book makes a good read, there is too much coverage of irrelevant material, such as the shipping wars in New York and New Jersey, at the time the Commodore was a mere employee, or the Vanderbilt Bronze, a statue now towering over Grand Central. I hope that in future editions, the author correct these imbalances, and puts more emphasis on Vanderbilt's incredible transition from Shipping to Railroading, which I am sure the author's considerable talent will allow. Despite these shortcomings, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK to anyone interested in business, or business history. Nitsan Ben-Horin, New York
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