| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 106.3

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 106.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Maury Klein. The Life and Legend of E. H. Harriman. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2000. Pp. xvi, 521. $34.95.

Maury Klein portrays Edward Henry Harriman as a person who craved power, not money, and who pushed himself obsessively as he worked on whatever project (usually more than one) in which he happened to be engaged. An imperious man, Harriman cared little about what the public thought of him as long as he was able to get the job done properly, according to his lights. 1

He was a successful, middle-aged, Wall Street broker before the importunings of his friend Stuveysant Fish and the challenges of railroading lured him into that field. Nevertheless, Harriman remained a financier all his life. Unlike his conservative contemporaries, he was unafraid to spend huge sums of money or to take chances, if by so doing he accomplished his purpose. He proved his point by spending several millions and several years modernizing western railroads, including the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. His success in these and other ventures made him a leading figure in finance and industry in the United States. Klein believes it was Harriman who set the pattern for railroading "into the new era of high volume traffic carried at lower rates" (p. 445). 2

As he grew older, Harriman's advanced ideas on business procedures brought him into conflict with many former associates and friends. Yet he remained a fighter, standing his ground even though several causes in which he was a participant were not truly his, and he would have preferred to devote his time to personal endeavors. . . .

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