The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California | Richard Rayner

The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California | Richard Rayner | Short and enjoyable

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The Associates: Fo...

	The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California Richard Rayner W. W. Norton/Atlas & Company, 2007 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A true-life tale of ruthless ambition, staggering greed, and the making of a nation.

One hundred forty years ago, four men rose from their position as middle-class merchants in Sacramento, California, to become the force behind the transcontinental railroad. In the course of doing so, they became wealthy beyond any measure?and to sustain their power, they lied, bribed, wheedled, and, when necessary, arranged for obstacles, both human and legal, to disappear. Their names were Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, and they were known as "The Big Four" or "The Associates." Their drive for money?nothing more, nothing less?was epic. Their legacy is a university, public gardens, museums, mansions, banks, and libraries--and to a large degree California itself, a state that even today owes its aura of "can-do" and limitless possibilities to The Associates.

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A terrific book on the railroads and California history

This is a quick well-written and readable guide to the building of the railroads as it relates to California. It tells the story of the Big 4, aka The Associates - Hunitington, Stanford, Hopkins and Crocker - four merchants who came out of almost nowhere and ended up controlling the biggest railroad empire in America. In earlier books Rayner has written about con men and the shady sides of business and I was worried that he might approach the story from that angle. But he ends up liking them, warts and all, and his picture of the scheming Huntington is especially good. Another interesting thing that Rayner points out is how our thinking about the railroads these days is almost entirely the product of the changing ways in which they've been written about in different intellectual phases of history. He gives us a tour of the sources, from the muckraking days to more modern historians who take the "greed is good" argument. Rayner doesn't take sides especially. I also have to say that as a professor of U.S. history specializing in the period in question, I found nothing to object to within these pages; the previous reviewer's complaints have the sound of someone who was trawling for things to carp about; for example, his point regarding Throg's Neck: this is a body of water and an adjoining neighborhood in the Bronx, so there is no error here at all. If you are looking for a one-volume history of the railroads in the Golden State, this is a fresh and neat little book.

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Short and enjoyable

An excellent and balanced account. While the relatively thin volume cannot cover every detail of such a gigantic undertaking, it provides a vivid account of the events that lead to the creation of CP and the personalities involved. The characters come to life, and the drama unfolds flawlessly. Whether your interest is business, or railroads, you will enjoy this book. Nitsan Ben-Horin, New York.

Fascinating read; another good job by author

This book covers the history of the railroad to California, but with a special emphasis and focus on the wheelings and dealings of the railroad barons/masterminds who pulled it off. Sometimes through means (stock fraud, etc) that look pretty shady in retrospect. If you find this aspect of interest, this is the book. The author has written previously about charlatans and frauds who left little behind (see his delightful "Drake's Fortune" book). Here, to the extent the railroad barons were shysters, they also created a longstanding, monumental feat of engineering with vast economic benefits and consequences. In this, lies the tale.

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private interests thru public works

A compelling and concise history of the California railroad. One realizes that Private capital would never have been able to build the railroad. There was much financial slight-of-hand, and only a few got really rich, but the transcontinental railroad was only made possible due to govt grants and thusly it (like the Erie canal) was really a public works program, albeit a very corrupt program. But in spite of the corruption the program benefited the nation greatly.
I found myself with an odd fondness for Mr Huntington, the most tyranical of the associates. Unlike Stanford, Huntington had no pretenses about who or what he was. He worked long hours ever night at having absolute control and he did it better than anyone else. He made things happen, he willed the railroad thru the mountains. I don't believe he was in it for the money, and I know he wasn't in it for the fame....he was simply driven to dream and in so doing he changed the nation. He was so bad, he was good.
One review snobbishly slights this book because of a blunder here or there, and for overquoting. This misses the forest for the trees; If you want a great, quick, entertaining and educational read about early California this is the book for you.

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Wonderful interpretation of history

Richard Rayner's "Associates" is a detailed, well researched, compilation of letters, news articles and historical references to describe an era that made the American west that developed into the modern Silicon Valley. The parallels of Silicon Valley's boom and bust and sometimes unscrupulous business ventures are perfectly matched. This is a true book of scholarship written in an exciting narrative.

There is rarely a time when a historian can get into the mind of a great individual; except by inference. Rayner did the remarkable research and has brought us better than a glimpse into the minds of the Big Four or the Robber Barons. Without them, good or bad, California and Silicon Valley would not be the world's leader in technology advancement.
John McLaughlin
Author, SILICON VALLEY: 110 Year Renaissance

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reviews: page 1, 2

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