The Life and Legend of Jay Gould [Paperback]

Maury Klein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 1997

He was, for Joseph Pulitzer, "one of the most sinister figures that have ever flitted bat-like across the vision of the American people." According to the New York Times, "the work of reform is but half done... when people claiming to be respectable are not ashamed of being associated with a man such as he." He was Jay Gould, the individual who for a century has been singled out as the most despicable and unscrupulous of the Robber Barons. In this splendid biography, Maury Klein paints the most complete portrait of the notorious Gould that we have ever had. His Gould is a brilliant but ruthless businessman who merged dying railroads into expansive and profit-making lines, including the giant Union Pacific.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

His own and succeeding generations called him a robber baron, Wall Street shark, a secretive lone wolf brokering power and influence through his rail and communications empire. But Gould, according to Klein, has been unfairly cast as the villain of a new industrial age, his legend largely the creation of newspaper hacks. This massively researched biography lacks the spark of its subject, and its reassessment of the notorious financier is only sometimes convincing. Klein, a University of Rhode Island professor, is most engaging when he charts Gould's sly maneuvers vis-a-vis Vanderbilt, Tweed and other high rollers. There is undoubtedly some credibility in his sympathetic portrayal of Gould as a reformer of railroads, possessed by the dream of a transcontinental line. As a driven entrepreneur who seized the main chance long before his rivals, Gould is believable yet typical. In the end, we are left with a devoted family man for whom stable deals held no challenge.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This revisionist biography seeks to remove the mantle of notoriety surrounding railroad magnate Jay Gould. Based upon previously unknown personal papers, Klein's research supports his contention that historians, unable to penetrate Gould's popular image as a sneak and a cheat, perpetuated it. This is an important new reading of a major figure in American business history, the first complete portrait of Gould's public and private life, and the first major examination of Gould to appear in a generation. Klein's stilted prose style is distracting, but he has successfully challenged the classic "robber baron" label affixed to Gould. Libraries concerned with business history, late 19th-century America, or historiographical revisionism will be interested in this. Susan E. Parker, Tufts Univ. Lib., Medford, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (October 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801857716
• ISBN-13: 978-0801857713
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,293,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Valentine for Jay Gould, December 10, 2001

By 

T. J. Graczewski "tgraczewski" (Burlingame, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life and Legend of Jay Gould (Paperback)

In the "Life and Legend of Jay Gould," historian Maury Klein seeks to resurrect the image of the archetypal -- but now largely forgotten -- early American industrialist.

The names Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan are familiar to nearly everyone, and in this 497-page biography Klein makes a convincing case that Jay Gould belongs in that pantheon of early American business giants. From his early maneuvers (which Klein claims permanently undermined his reputation) in fighting for control of the Erie Railroad and an attempt to corner the gold market, to his Herculean efforts to build and maintain a vast transportation and communications empire in the face of brutal competition and economic and political chaos, Gould emerges as a true pioneer in American corporate finance. Moreover, perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, Jay Gould was the personification of the so-called "robber baron"; the man and the myth were consummate.

Yet, for all of its promise, this book is a huge disappointment. Klein is a classically trained historian and accomplished professional academic, yet this book reads as if it were composed by a fawning amateur. A project that began as an effort to "set the record straight," ultimately degenerates into a frustratingly air-brushed portrait of a very complex and capable man. Rather than a balanced and objective review of Gould's character and business acumen, the book takes on the form of a giddy valentine. Seemingly every move Gould makes is judged by Klein as "brilliant, masterful and unexpected," while his long list of formidable rivals are portrayed as bumbling morons. For example, after Gould ascended to a leadership position in the Union Pacific railroad, he moved to thwart the ruinous rate wars in transcontinental shipping that had erupted with the Pacific Mail steamship company, the Union Pacific's sole competitor in that market at that time. Shortly thereafter the Panama Railroad, the critical nexus upon which all of Pacific Mail's business depended, was acquired by another speculator and the transit contract with Pacific Mail abrogated. Klein describes Gould's actions in acquiring Pacific Mail and in getting out of the Panama railroad jam in glowing terms, but not a word is said about how someone with his supposed perspicacity could leave such a obviously vulnerable flank exposed in the first place.

Also, the author almost totally neglects Gould's private life. Early in the book Klein confidently pronounces that "Two concerns dominated the rest of Gould's life, business and devotion to family." Yet, from that point forward, nary a word is spoken about Gould's relationship with his wife and family -- or specifically about his relationship with the son whose incapable hands the family fortune would be left to and squandered. In comparison to Ron Chernow's and Jean Strause's treatment of the private lives of John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, respectively, in recent biographies, Klein's performance in this regard is particularly disappointing.

In closing, two things are clear after reading "The Life and Legend of Jay Gould": 1) Jay Gould was a giant of American business, easily on par with Rockefeller and Carnegie; and 2) the definitive one-volume biography of his amazing life has yet to be written.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a book which separates fiction from fact, October 26, 1999

By 

R. MacTaggart (Right in the Middle, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Life and Legend of Jay Gould (Paperback)

Jay Gould is remembered as the worst of the 19th century "Robber Barons" - a destroyer of companies - yet as Maury Klein so ably details, this reputation was almost wholly fabricated by the media and bears little resemblance to a man obsessed with building a transportation and communications empire. Klein's book is more than about Jay Gould, it's about the vast gulf separating all-too-common media generated myths and the truth.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a very good read, very well-researched, not always objective, February 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Life and Legend of Jay Gould (Paperback)

Klein's in-depth Biography is a fascinating account of the life of businessman Jay Gould. Although accurate, Klein's analysis is too kind and almost invariably forgiving to the highly contrversial actions of this complex figure. I recommend this book very strongly!