Money Men

<p>Most Americans are familiar with the political history of the United States but there is another history woven all through it a largely forgotten history--the story of the money men. Acclaimed historian H. W. Brands brings them back to life: J. P. Morgan who stabilized a foundering U.S. Treasury in 1907; Alexander Hamilton who founded the first national bank and Nicholas Biddle under whose directorship it failed; Jay Cooke who helped to finance the Union war effort through his then-innovative strategy of selling bonds to ordinary Americans; and Jay Gould who tried to corner the market on gold in 1869 and as a result brought about Black Friday and fled for his life.</p>