The rags-to-riches story of Silicon Valley's original disruptor.
American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford – from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" – reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors.
It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him—his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel—a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.
Roland De Wolk is an investigative reporter in print, broadcast, and online journalism. He is a historian, university adjunct, and, of course, an author.
"A rip-roaring new biography of the robber baron & politico after whom Stanford University is named. How *that* happened is one of many great stories told by author Roland De Wolk. . . . [I] highly recommend it."—William Powers, author of Hamlet’s BlackBerry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age
"Leland Stanford was once a man, but he has become a monument. Roland De Wolk has the wit to recognize that by recovering the man, he can tell us not only about Stanford but a great deal about the university that made the man into a monument. The book could not come at a better time. Today Stanford University rides the horse of entrepreneurship as hard as Leland Stanford raced his famous trotting horses. This is an entertaining and rollicking biography."—Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University
"Deeply researched and richly detailed, American Disruptor chronicles the life of Leland Stanford and the wide-open world in which he lived. From Gold Rush days to completion of the first transcontinental railroad to the founding of Stanford University, Roland De Wolk skillfully unfolds this narrative about a bold, darkly contradictory man who, in his way, constantly made history."—Barry Siegel, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Dreamers and Schemers
"American Disruptor is beautifully written and fully researched with analysis and documentation. This is the story of Leland Stanford, an early failure, an entrepreneur, and the visionary that linked America’s East and West with a ribbon of steel. Stanford was the enigmatic serial entrepreneur who laid the foundation for Stanford University and the world-impacting entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley."—John McLaughlin, President, Silicon Valley Historical Association
344 pp.6 x 9Illus: 22 b/w illustrations
9780520383234$26.95|£23.00Paper
Apr 2021