A disposition to be rich : how a small-town pastor's son ruined an American president, brought on a Wall Street crash, and made himself the best-hated man in the UnitedStates / Geoffrey C. Ward.
418 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
Note
"This is a Borzoi book" -- T.p. verso.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages [369]-399) and index.
Contents
Pt. 1. The Puritan -- The Higher Calling -- Labouring in Hope -- Chastened and Sanctified -- pt. 2. One of the Worst Boys -- A Contest for Principle & Truth -- The Triumph of the Monster, "War" -- Suspected of Evil -- pt. 3. The Young Napoleon of Finance -- The Avaricious Spirit -- The Bonanza Man -- The Imaginary Business -- Tears of Grateful Joy -- The End Has Come -- pt. 4. The Best-Hated Man in the UnitedStates-- A Magnificent and Audacious Swindle -- A Verdict at Last -- The Model Prisoner -- All That Loved Me Are in Heaven -- pt. 5. The Loving Father -- Driven to Desperation -- The Kidnapping -- Epilogue.
Summary
Documents the story of Gilded Age con artist Ferdinand Ward, recounting how his large-scale pyramid operation and other sensational schemes triggered one of the greatest financial scandals in American history.