Kyle Harrison
to-read
The First Tycoon
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
- Author
- T. J. Stiles
- Published
- 2009
- Recommended
- Once
Why it’s on the list: Stiles’s Pulitzer- and National Book Award-winning life of Cornelius Vanderbilt — steamboats to railroads, and the invention of the large American corporation along the way.
Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @typesfast’s question, “What’s the best history book you’ve read?” (June 5, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on What’s the best history book… (tweet). It was listed there as “The First Tycoon”.
Connections
- Biography — The form.
- Capital Allocation — Vanderbilt’s craft: moving capital from one transport technology to the next.
- Company Building — The corporate form he helped create.
- What’s the best history book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.