The Money Men

Download or read book The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years' War Over the American Dollar (Enterprise) written by H. W. Brands and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An "insightful" (Publishers Weekly) history of the development of American capitalism and the men who made it great. Most Americans are familiar with the political history of the United States, but there is another history woven all through it, a largely forgotten history—the story of the money men. Acclaimed historian H. W. Brands brings them back to life: J. P. Morgan, who stabilized a foundering U.S. Treasury in 1907; Alexander Hamilton, who founded the first national bank, and Nicholas Biddle, under whose directorship it failed; Jay Cooke, who helped to finance the Union war effort through his then-innovative strategy of selling bonds to ordinary Americans; and Jay Gould, who tried to corner the market on gold in 1869 and as a result brought about Black Friday and fled for his life.