Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers (Ohio)by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr.
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A history of the operations of the van Sweringen brothers, who at their peak in 1929-1930 ran a vast railroad, mass transit and real estate empire from their (then brand-new) landmark Cleveland Union Terminal Building. This book tends to be pretty positive toward the brothers, lauding their vision, though to its credit it doesn't shy away from describing some of the financial shenanigans the brothers got into when they were scrabbling for cash; the author tends to try to minimize these. A lot of excellent photographic and map detail, and aside from a small handful of curious editorial glitches, generally well-edited. Recommended for railroad lovers, financial history lovers, or Cleveland lovers. Harwood's book on the vans is much more readable than Haber's earlier work. The vans once controlled one of the largest railroad empires in the United States. In Cleveland they took down too many prominent people when they went under in the depression, so there are few memorials to the brothers. The Terminal Tower and Shaker Heights are lasting monuments. The brothers are buried in Lake View. no reviews | add a review
Awards
Invisible Giants is the Horatio Alger-esque tale of a pair of reclusive Cleveland brothers, Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen, who rose from poverty to become two of the most powerful men in America. They controlled the country's largest railroad system -- a network of track reaching from the Atlantic to Salt Lake City and from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. On the eve of the Great Depression they were close to controlling the country's first coast-to-coast rail system -- a goal that still elu No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)385.0922771Social sciences Commerce, Communications, Transportation Trains and Railroads Subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography BiographyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
The finance portion was especially interesting because my paternal grandfather used many similar vehicles to amass wealth in the roaring 20s ( not to the same extent to be sure) then losing it all as the great depression deepened.
As a lover of history and trains, this bok should be essential reading for all of those who share these interests. ( )