The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love o..., H. W. Brands
The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love o..., H. W. Brands
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The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield
A Tragedy of the Gilded Age

Author: H. W. Brands

Narrator: Richard McGonagle

Unabridged: 4 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/31/2011


Synopsis

The two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War traces the extraordinary downfall of financier Jubilee Jim, bringing to life New York’s Gilded Age and some of its legendary players, including Boss William Tweed, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the railroad tycoon Jay Gould.

Even before he was shot dead on the stairway of the tony Grand Central Hotel in 1872, financier James “Jubilee Jim” Fisk, Jr., was a notorious New York City figure. From his audacious attempt to corner the gold market in 1869 to his battle for control of the geographically crucial Erie Railroad, Fisk was a flamboyant exemplar of a new financial era marked by volatile fortunes and unprecedented greed and corruption. But it was his scandalously open affair with a showgirl named Josie Mansfield that ultimately led to his demise.

About The Author

A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, H. W. Brands is the Dickson Allen Anderson Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeffrey

Mystery stories frequently deal with the murder or strange death of a prominent figure, and many of them deal with multi-millionaires. It is true that criminal history records the odd deaths of business tycoons: Sir Harry Oakes in the Bahamas in 1943 is one, as is Stanford White, the great Gilded Ag......more

Goodreads review by Brett's

Highly recommend, interesting account of the meteoric rise of New York railroad magnate Jim Fisk and his subsequent murder by his girlfriend's lover in the late 1880's. I picked this book up on a lark and thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I was not familiar with Jim Fisk or the Erie Railroad, it wa......more

Goodreads review by Ben

BOOK #1 on Africa Trip. Meh, a little interesting from a period and information about the American tycoons , but this story really didn’t Do it for me.......more

Written in the present tense and structured like a true crime narrative rather than a work of history, this book was a fairly easy read but bogged down considerably towards the end, which was essentially a present-tense recap of various court proceedings. And then this person testified, and they sai......more


Quotes

Praise for H. W. Brands

“H. W. Brands is a master at finding the essence of an important American life, telling its story grippingly and showing us why it is important to our own generation.” —Michael Beschloss
 
“Brands will change the way you see history.” —The Austin American-Statesman
 
“A wonderfully skilled narrative historian.” —Los Angeles Times
 
“Brands is masterly.” —The Economist
 
“Few historians can tell a tale better.” —The Dallas Morning News