In this first-ever biography of one of Nevada’s most reviled historical figures, author Michael Makley examines Sharon’s complex nature and the turbulent times in which he flourished. Arriving in San Francisco shortly after the Gold Rush began, Sharon was soon involved in real estate, politics, banking, and stock speculation, and he was a party in several of the era’s most shocking business and sexual scandals. When he moved to Virginia City, Nevada’s mushrooming silver boomtown, his business dealings there soon made him known as the "King of the Comstock." Makley’s engaging and meticulously researched account not only lays bare the life of the notorious but enigmatic Sharon but examines the broader historical context of his career—the complex business relationships between San Francisco and the booming gold and silver mining camps of the Far West; the machinations of rampant Gilded Age capitalism; and the sophisticated financial and technological infrastructure that supported Virginia City’s boomtown economy. The Infamous King of the Comstock offers a significant fresh perspective on Nevada and the mining West during America’s Gilded Age.
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Book Description
William Sharon was one of the most colorful scoundrels in the nineteenth-century mining West. He epitomized the robber barons of the nation’s Gilded Age and the political corruption and moral decay for which that period remains notorious, yet he was also a visionary capitalist who controlled more than a dozen of the greatest mines on Nevada’s mighty Comstock Lode, built the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, manipulated speculation and prices on the San Francisco Stock Exchange, and revived the collapsed Bank of California. One enemy called him "a thoroughly bad man—a man entirely void of principle," while a Comstock neighbor called him "one of the best men that ever lived in Virginia City." Both descriptions were reasonably accurate.
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About the Author
Michael J. Makley is the author of two previous books on western history. He lives in Woodfords, California.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended to historians and lay readers alike,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Infamous King of the Comstock: William Sharon and the Gilded Age in the West (Shepperson Series in Nevada History) (Paperback)
The Infamous King of the Comstock: William Sharon and the Gilded Age in the West is the true-life story of one of Nevada's most notorious figures of Gilded Age capitalism. William Sharon earned a great deal of animosity, but even more wealth, from loaning money to mining operations and then foreclosing on them; when his business partner's enterprise failed and his partner died, Sharon benefitted immensely from his partner's remaining assets. To top it all off, he served in the Nevada Senate. The Infamous King of the Comstock is the absorbing story of not just one man, but the (somewhat) corrupt and money-hungry era in which he lived, highly recommended to historians and lay readers alike.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
very interesting,
This review is from: The Infamous King of the Comstock: William Sharon and the Gilded Age in the West (Shepperson Series in Nevada History) (Paperback)
I'm just starting this book, but I wanted to mention that
I recently met the author (Mr. Makley) at a book-signing in Carson City and found him to be very knowledgeable about the history of the Comstock. I was greatly impressed by his friendliness and willingness to discuss his book with a newcomer to this subject. If my experience with Mr. Makley is an indicator, the "Infamous King of the Comstock" will be a great read. Steve Jackson
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
WILLIAM SHARON WAS BORN IN Smithfield, Ohio, on January 9, 1821, his ancestors having helped settle William Penn's Philadelphia at the end of the seventeenth century. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
jacket mine Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, Virginia City, Bank of California, Bank Ring, William Sharon, Gold Hill News, New York, Territorial Enterprise, United States, Truckee Railroad, Batik of California, Batik Ring, Adolph Sutro, Carson City, Consolidated Virginia, Thomas Bell, West Coast, Spring Valley Water Company, Carson River, Central Pacific, Grand Hotel, Sierra Nevada, William Ralston, Sarah Althea Hill, University of California New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
WILLIAM SHARON WAS BORN IN Smithfield, Ohio, on January 9, 1821, his ancestors having helped settle William Penn's Philadelphia at the end of the seventeenth century. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
jacket mine Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, Virginia City, Bank of California, Bank Ring, William Sharon, Gold Hill News, New York, Territorial Enterprise, United States, Truckee Railroad, Batik of California, Batik Ring, Adolph Sutro, Carson City, Consolidated Virginia, Thomas Bell, West Coast, Spring Valley Water Company, Carson River, Central Pacific, Grand Hotel, Sierra Nevada, William Ralston, Sarah Althea Hill, University of California New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 74
books:
See all 74 books this book cites
1
book
cites this book:
- Comstock Mining and Miners [Illustrated] by Eliot Lord on 14 pages
- History of Nevada (The Far Western Frontier) by Myron F. Angel on 10 pages
- History of Nevada by Sam P. Davis on 9 pages
- Lights and Shades in San Francisco by B. E. Lloyd on 7 pages
- California: An Interpretive History by James J. Rawls on 5 pages
See all 74 books this book cites
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