The Hour of Fate
Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism
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The Hour of Fate
Narrated by:
Jennifer Woodward
Buy Now for ₹667.71
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Narrated by:
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Jennifer Woodward
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Written by:
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Susan Berfield
A riveting narrative of Wall Street buccaneering, political intrigue, and two of American history’s most colossal characters, struggling for mastery in an era of social upheaval and rampant inequality.
It seemed like no force in the world could slow J. P. Morgan’s drive to power. In the summer of 1901, the financier was assembling his next mega-deal: Northern Securities, an enterprise that would affirm his dominance in America’s most important industry—the railroads.
Then, a bullet from an anarchist’s gun put an end to the business-friendly presidency of William McKinley. A new chief executive bounded into office: Theodore Roosevelt. He was convinced that as big business got bigger, the government had to check the influence of the wealthiest or the country would inch ever closer to collapse. By March 1902, battle lines were drawn: the government sued Northern Securities for antitrust violations. But as the case ramped up, the coal miners’ union went on strike and the anthracite pits that fueled Morgan’s trains and heated the homes of Roosevelt’s citizens went silent. With millions of dollars on the line, winter bearing down, and revolution in the air, it was a crisis that neither man alone could solve.
Richly detailed and propulsively told, The Hour of Fate is the gripping story of a banker and a president thrown together in the crucible of national emergency even as they fought in court. The outcome of the strike and the case would change the course of our history. Today, as the country again asks whether saving democracy means taming capital, the lessons of Roosevelt and Morgan’s time are more urgent than ever.
Winner of the 2021 Theodore Roosevelt Association Book Prize
Finalist for the Presidential Leadership Book Award©2020 Susan Berfield (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic Reviews
Wonderfully detailed . . . [Berfield’s] story is about the past but also very much about the present, as our own Gilded Age raises old questions about inequality, plutocracy . . . a poignant, painful reminder of what a real leader does.
Berfield’s wide-angle lens encompasses antitrust law, the details of railroad reorganization, investment banking, politics, coal mining and high living. . . . she can do a lot with only a few words.
An extremely skillful blend of wide-canvas exposition and small-scale personal drama . . . impossible to read this clash between big government and big business without thinking about our own century, when American wealth inequality is greater than it was even in Morgan’s day.
A lively epic . . . novelistic in tone and historical in substance.
Most authors might be content to write about either John Pierpont Morgan, possibly the world’s most famous banker, or Theodore Roosevelt, one of America’s best-loved presidents. But The Hour of Fate by Susan Berfield is richer for tackling them together. . . . Her book vividly brings both men to life.
It’s no easy task to write a dual biography while also incorporating the feelings and emotions of the historical moment, yet Berfield accomplishes all of this. An extremely readable work that will engage American history and business readers everywhere.
A tale of greed, power, and accountability, an epic story of a clash of titans, one a political dynamo, the other unparalleled in business savvy. Out of their struggle, a new nation emerged, one that could flex its muscles and cause private enterprise to shudder, instead of the other way around as it had been before. . . Today, as the United States barrels its way into the 21st century, with business behemoths like Amazon and Apple treading in the footsteps of Morgan’s Northern Securities, one can only wonder when and where the next trust buster will arise.
Ambitiously juggles several historic threads from a turbulent time in America: soaring immigration, labor unrest in the face of low wages and dangerous conditions, the seemingly untrammeled ambitions of big business, and the clamor for public accountability and oversight . . . An engaging historical work involving truly larger-than-life American characters.
Susan Berfield has written the rare book that makes you look at both the past and present in a new light. Deeply researched and beautifully written, The Hour of Fate tells the gripping tale of how a clash between the most powerful force in the history of Wall Street and a young, popular president set the stage for our current debates over the role and limits of wealth in a democracy.
Narrative nonfiction at its best. Susan Berfield brings to life the conflict between two of America's most powerful men, J.P. Morgan and Theodore Roosevelt, and reveals how their battle over democracy and corporate power reshaped America.
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