The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 (Paperback)

~ (Author) "On Monday morning, March 2, 1868, The New York Times carried a dispatch from Galveston, Texas, on the western frontier..." (more)
Key Phrases: gold clearinghouse, bull clique, crop theory, New York, Jim Fisk, Erie Railway (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In The Gold Ring, Capitol Hill veteran Kenneth D. Ackerman tells the story of two dazzling con men who rose to the top of the Erie Railway Company before fixing their ambitions on a scam so great it would make them two of the richest men in America—and cement their reputation as two of the most corrupt. They were Jay Gould, the ruthless self-promoter who came to be recognized as the most hated, if brilliant, man of his generation, and his partner, the extravagant showman Jim Fisk, whose insatiable indulgences finally led to his demise. Featuring a cast of supporting characters that includes Boss Tweed, Albert Cardozo, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Ulysses S. Grant, The Gold Ring evokes an age of scandal and depravity in the world of high finance that makes today’s climate of corporate excess and deception seem positively tame by comparison. Featuring numerous historic photographs, this is a compelling and fiercely entertaining insight into Wall Street's early years. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballinger Pub Co (April 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887304362
• ISBN-13: 978-0887304361
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,157,881 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good financial adventure tale, June 26, 2005

By	Peter A. Greene (Franklin, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 (Paperback)

Ackerman manages to make the financial part of this scandal easily comprehensible. He also does a great job of sketching in the principals as living, breathing characters.

At the center of this tale sit Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, an unlikely team-- one a stiff, and tightly self-controlled, the other a flamboyant high-roller who lived openly with his mistress. How they hatched a plot which nearly trashed the entire US economy is more adventure than detective story.

Ackerman has put his tale together with a good assortment of sources (once the gold scheme blew up, lots of people had lots to say, some of it in court), and he manages to give us just enough background for understanding without wandering off down some side street. And he shows how the fallout included the beginnings of federal regulations to protect the US economy.

Originally written in 1988, this is a great piece of work and a welcome reissue (though filled with an extraordinarily large number of typos). Highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Publisher of "The Gold Ring" deserves a Lump of Coal, November 9, 2006

By	Richard F. Antonak (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 (Paperback)

The book was excellent - just what I was looking for to expand my understanding of this fascinating period of American history. But Kenneth Ackerman needs to hire a proofreader or find a new publisher. The copy of the book (paperback) that I received and read had hundreds of typographical errors - on some pages, there were more than a dozen errors - reversed letters, missing letters, missing punctuation, extra punctuation, duplicate lines. This was not what I expected for a serious historical study, nor for a book purchased from Amazon.com.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book---terrible proofreading, October 8, 2008

By	R. MCHAN (MISSISSIPPI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 (Paperback)

This is my third book by Ackerman. The book is excellent. He simplies the details and maintains the readers attention. With the current mortgage meltdown, it's good to know that these things have happened before and the country survived and moved on. BUT . . . (you knew this was coming) I have never seen a book with so many typos. That is inexcusable. Grate arther, good stori, ect., but thos tyops---