The Vanderbilt name is normally synonymous with financial prowess and ruthless domination over the railroad industry, but few know that he first rose to greatness by starting a sloop ferry service between Staten Island and Manhattan, then subsequently building up a steamboat empire on the eastern seaboard and finally by providing a liner service through Nicaragua to California.  Not only is this book a biography of a remarkable man, but it is also a fascinating portrait of New York City as it exploded in the first half of the 19th Century from a minor port town to the most important city in America. 

• Paperback - 717 pages