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The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California
by Richard Rayner
from W. W. Norton/Atlas & Company
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 
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a very frustrating book... 
i was excited to buy the book and learn about the 'Big Four' of California. I really enjoy California history and have read many other books which touch on this subject. First disappointment of many was when I realized that instead of doing his research, the author said that a Chinese undertaker caused the crocker spite fence to go up when it was a German undertaker called Nicolas Yung. Obviously the name threw him off and the author merely assumed the ethnicity. Frustrating because the author got many... more info
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"The Building of the Railroad, the Creation of a State, and the Invention of Big Business" 
I have lived in Northern California for forty years and knew the Big Four - Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington, and Hopkins - were instrumental in creating the transcontinental railroad and all became fabulously wealthy in the process. But like many who live here, I knew very little about the nature of their involvement and the true source of their wealth.
Since Silicon Valley was not around in the latter half of the 1800s, I knew their wealth creation story had to be different than what we see today. Author... more info
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Wonderful interpretation of history
Richard Rayner's "Associates" is a detailed, well researched, compilation of letters, news articles and historical references to describe an era that made the American west that developed into the modern Silicon Valley. The parallels of Silicon Valley's boom and bust and sometimes unscrupulous business ventures are perfectly matched. This is a true book of scholarship written in an exciting narrative.
There is rarely a time when a historian can get into the mind of a great individual; except by... more info
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private interests thru public works
A compelling and concise history of the California railroad. One realizes that Private capital would never have been able to build the railroad. There was much financial slight-of-hand, and only a few got really rich, but the transcontinental railroad was only made possible due to govt grants and thusly it (like the Erie canal) was really a public works program, albeit a very corrupt program. But in spite of the corruption the program benefited the nation greatly.
I found myself with an odd fondness... more info
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