Cornelius Vanderbilt was born in New York in 1794. He began working at a young age, quitting school at eleven, to help work on his father's ferry service. This inspired him to found his won ferry service, and his work in this industry helped create the nickname he often went by- The Commodore. He continued in the water craft industry for quite some time, though after the United States Civil War, he got into the railroad business. He was extremely successful and thus became extremely wealthy thanks to his business enterprises. One of the more exciting things that I learned in this book was that he ordered the construction of the Grand Central Terminal in New York, which I have always wanted to see. The architecture is gorgeous. I would also be extremely interested in seeing his gravesite. He had a massive family mausoleum built in the Moravian Cemetery located in Staten Island, New York.

This book was highly recommended on a nonfiction book page I am part of on Facebook. I was able to find it used for a great price, and am so pleased that I finally sat down to read it. It was very well written, and the research was phenomenal. I wish that I would have had this book when I was doing a Civil War class, because the information in it about the railroad system would have been really useful. Very good read.