Dark genius of Wall Street : the misunderstood life of Jay Gould, king of the robber barons / Edward Renehan.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-334) and index.

Jay Gould has been commonly regarded as the biggest robber of the robber barons, a man whose only motivation was to make money. He dominated the railroad and telegraph systems-the leading technologies of the time-and invented ways to manipulate the stock market. Some of his methods were made obsolete by the modern stock market, some were made illegal when the Securities and Exchange Commission was established, and some are still practiced today. Renehan maintains that Gould was not the marauding financial monster that history portrays. He reminds us that Gould's enemies were only too happy to provide grist for the anti-Gould mill, a situation Gould ignored to his own detriment. He also contradicts charges that Gould took no interest in his companies by detailing Gould's personal management of his railroad business, and he recounts Gould's philanthropy to his employees, his community, and his church--all undertaken anonymously. Eminently readable, this book takes us into the world of the Gilded Age and makes the case that history has not given Gould a fair shake.