American Rascal shows the complex and quirky character of the nineteenth century's greatest robber baron. The son of a poor farmer whose early life was marked by tragedy, Gould quickly became notorious in the Black Friday market collapse of 1869, when he paralyzed the economy and nearly toppled President Ulysses S. Grant. He made himself one of the richest men in America by gaining control over one of every six miles of the country's expanding network of railroad tracks. He was at once praised for his brilliance by Rockefeller and Vanderbilt and condemned for forever destroying American business values by Mark Twain. He traded jokes with Thomas Edison, figured in Thomas Nast's best sketches, paid Boss Tweed's bail, and commuting to work in a 200-foot yacht. Gould thrived in an expanding industrial economy in which authorities tolerated inside trading and stock-price manipulation because they believed regulation would stifle progress. But Gould showed how unbridled capitalism was, in fact, dangerous. This eye-opening history explores how Gould's audacious exploitation of economic freedom triggered the first public demands for financial reforms-a call that still resonates today.