Rick Latona

Book Review – The First Tycoon – The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles

Those that know me know I read a lot. I suppose at times I come across like Cliff from the 80s hit sitcom Cheers. By that I mean, I’m known to force often useless knowledge on unwilling subjects.

Putting that last comment aside for a moment, I’d also like to say that I’ve decided to make a point of putting more personal thoughts onto this blog. I’m going to return to writing about family and life in general. So in an effort to find content and inspiration, I’ll now begin to write my thoughts on the various books I read.

I won’t attempt to log books read in the past as that would be an impossible task. Rather, we’ll start now with one I finished this morning.

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The book is The First Tycoon – The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. This is a Pulitzer Prize winning biography masterly written and researched by T.J. Stiles, an author that we will see more of as this is only his second book.

A great biography should read like a novel. The author should start the story in some gripping way and keep it engaging until the end.

The First Tycoon Stiles begins the story after Vanderbilt dies and leaves the majority of his estate to his oldest son leaving his other son, his daughters and grandchildren with a combined total of less than 2% his assets.

At the time of his death, Cornelius Vanderbilt was worth more than 100 million dollars. Stiles puts this in perspective by pointing out that if you combined the total amount of cash in existince (in America that is), plus the sum total value of all stocks, bonds and treasury notes, that C Vanderbilt essentially had 1 in every 20 dollars.

That’s astounding and underscores the man’s immense powers and vast wealth. Adhering to the laws of human nature the surviving family went to the courts and fought over the distribution of his assets. The story then goes to tell of the life of the man and decisions and tactics used to create this empire.

Vanderbilt was a vicious competitor. He started with a small sail boat where as a child he would ferry people back and forth between Staten Island and Manhattan. He fought rate wars time and again and wouldn’t leave his routes until his competitors paid him to go away. He grew his business and witnessed the coming of the steam age. It was on the water that he became rich and famous with the railroads not being his claim to fame until much later in his life.

He defeated his enemies primarily through controlling his expenses and running an efficient business. He was able to sell tickets for less money all while turning a profit, thus sending his competitors to the brink of bankruptcy over and over. He did this until his steamers controlled nearly all the passenger and freight services on both the Atlantic and the Pacific. This is the great lesson of his life and the book. You can’t, as a businessperson, read this book and not go to work the next day looking for ways to cut costs. Vanderbilt was first and foremost, a great business person. He understood that controlling expenses and creating positive cash flow was the key to remaining competitive.

While he had invested in railroads early in his life he didn’t sell his shipping interests and concentrate on them until the civil war began and the roads took on a vital importance.

Starting with the Harlem railroad which was the only one to terminate directly inside of Manhattan, Vanderbilt began the age of consolidation. He acquired road after road and created the nation’s first colossal corporation. He was the first to understand the new age and stock markets and use his knowledge to punish competitors into submission.

There’s a second lesson which I personally take away from this book. Stay healthy. The Commodore, as he came to be known, never ate much and rarely drank alcohol. He had great health and boundless energy. One primary reason for his great wealth was the sheer number of years he had in business. He started before he was 15 years old and continued well into his 80s. This was at a time that the average lifespan was in its 50s.

His long life spanned the most critical in America’s history. He grew up doing business with the founding fathers and far outlived the civil war. This was a period of transition where America went from an agricultural society to an industrial and economic force. There were no coroporations with widely held stock when he started and were becomming commonplace near his death.

Vanderbilt epitomized what we now consider an American trait of entrepreneurism and can-do attitude. This was anything but a common trait at the time but the public’s awe of the man created generations of people who wanted to be like him.

Vanderbilt was the first Tycoon. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes American history, business history, biographies or just good stories. It’s a good book.

Tags: Reading