"This book is about the rise, fall and resurrection of an American banking empire - the House of Morgan." Prologue, pg. xi.

"Such anarchy could easily fire a moralistic young banker like Pierpont Morgan. In his early years, he was exposed to many incorrigible Wall Street rascals, including Daniel Drew, the rustic sharpster who sold Eire stock short while sitting on the railroad's own board (he was called the speculative director), and Jay Gould, the small swarthy, full-bearded financier who prodigally bribed legislators as he vied for control of the Erie and other railroads. This was the infamous era of the Tweed Ring. Jay Gould's 1869 attempt to corner the gold market, and other acts of larceny on a scale never before imagined. While Junius inhabited the white-glove world of the City, Pierpont had to deal with Wall Street squalor and found it alternately seductive and repellent. Confronted by...