The Vanderbilt Era: Cornelius Vanderbilt and the Dilemma of the “Robber Baron” (2011 Haaga Lecture)
T. J. Stiles discusses the life and impact of Cornelius Vanderbilt, America’s first great corporate tycoon. Ruthless yet honest, Vanderbilt epitomized the conundrum of the so-called robber barons, who amassed unprecedented power but revolutionized business and donated vast sums to charity. Stiles won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for his book “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.” His talk at the Huntington Library was the 2011 Paul G. Haaga Jr. Lecture in American Entrepreneurship.
