A Disposition to Be Rich: Ferdinand Ward, the Greatest Swindler of the Gilded Age

A Disposition to Be Rich: Ferdinand Ward, the Greatest Swindler of the Gilded Age - Paperback

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A Disposition to Be Rich: Ferdinand Ward, the Greatest Swindler of the Gilded Age
  • A Disposition to Be Rich: Ferdinand Ward, the Greatest Swindler of the Gilded Age
A Disposition to Be Rich: Ferdinand Ward, the Greatest Swindler of the Gilded Age - Paperback

A Disposition to Be Rich: Ferdinand Ward, the Greatest Swindler of the Gilded Age - Paperback

by Geoffrey C. Ward
$22.00
$22.00

Book Overview

by Geoffrey C. Ward (Author)

A New York Times Notable Book

The compelling behind-the-scenes story of the greatest swindler of the Gilded Age, whose villainy bankrupted Ulysses S. Grant and stunned the world of finance--told by his great-grandson, award-winning historian Geoffrey C. Ward.

Ferdinand Ward, the son of a Protestant missionary and small-town pastor, moved to New York at twenty-one and, in less than a decade, made himself the business partner of a former president and established himself as the "Young Napoleon of Finance." In truth, he was running a massive pyramid scheme. Drawing from thousands of family documents never before examined, Geoffrey C. Ward traces his great-grandfather's rapid rise to riches and fame, and his even more dizzying fall from grace, in a narrative populated with mistresses, crooked bankers, corrupt New York officials, and a desperate kidnapping scheme. Here is a great story about a classic American con artist.

Author Biography

Geoffrey C. Ward is the coauthor of The Civil War (with Ken Burns and Ric Burns), and the author of A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, which won the 1989 National Book Critics Circle Award for biography and the 1990 Francis Parkman Prize.

Number of Pages: 464
Dimensions: 1 x 7.9 x 5.1 IN
Publication Date: April 23, 2013
ISBN9780345804693
Author Geoffrey C. Ward
PublisherKnopf Publishing Group
GenreBiography, History, and Business
FormatPaperback
PublishedApril 2013
LanguageENG- English
Pages464
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Biography & Autobiography Business & Economics History Nonfiction

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About Geoffrey C. Ward

GEOFFREY C. WARD, historian and screenwriter, is the author of twenty books, including A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Francis Parkman Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has written or cowritten many documentary films, including The Vietnam War, The Civil War, Baseball, The War, The West, Mark Twain, Not for Ourselves Alone, and Jazz. KEN BURNS, the producer and director of numerous film series, including The Vietnam War, The Roosevelts, and The War, founded his own documentary film company, Florentine Films, in 1976. His landmark film The Civil War was the highest-rated series in the history of American public television, and his work has won numerous prizes, including the Emmy and Peabody Awards, and two nominations for Academy Award. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire.

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