American Tycoons

When you think about tycoons, do thoughts of people come to mind that are dirty, rotten, stingy, money-grubbing, possible law-breakers, and fast-lanners? Well, you're probably right for the most part. There most likely was more than a few of those. Not all of them, though, necessarily made their money and monopolies by dishonesty. Andrew Carnegie, for instance, was one; An Wang was another, along with Madame C.J. Walker, Henry Ford, and John H. Johnson, and there probably were others throughout history that could be listed with them too. Now, I'm not saying that these people were perfect or indeed that in their business practices they always did what was right, because they probably didn't. J.P. Morgan (financial tycoon of his day) is our example in this, in that he broke the law several times and didn't think much of it. Their private lives weren't always peachy, either. Cornelius Vanderbilt (transportation tycoon of his day), for instance, had his wife locked in a asylum for her refusing to move from upstate New York to New York City, and wouldn't let her out until she changed her mind! That is probably just a few of them, and no doubt there is more to tell. Even with these things said, I still for the most part have a deep respect for them. They all persevered when things were not going well and stuck to it determinedly. Since most of them did not come from rich families, they knew what it meant to go without, and, instead of wallowing in self-pity, they went out and made opportunities for themselves, and because of that, they made opportunities for others. They worked harder than most, sacrificed more that most, were shrewder than most and, because of it and God's blessing, they reaped the most. They made money, that's for certain, and people were envious of them, much like today in fact. More important than the money though was the influence that these people had on society and society's lifestyles. As soon the tycoons died, their money would mean nothing as it would pass hands and, where their going, their money wouldn't. Thus what my title meant. I liked this book very much: it was excellent. The illustrations were very nice and informative. The book was well written and had humor laced into it. The authors of the book mostly wrote about the better sides of the tycoons, but they also wrote about their shadier sides and some of their misdeeds to help balance it. The biographies were rather short and summarized, to which I wished they were a bit longer, but even though they are a bit short, the authors did a good job in creating a picture to help you to get to know the tycoons. So if you're looking for a introductory book into the lives of these tycoons, you found a great book, This is one of the few times that I would actually suggest to you to buy a book, because this one was a very inspirational book. If you can, though, I would suggest you get it out of your local library before you buy it. The review comes to an end n