With our modern eyes, we've grown accustomed to viewing men like Colin Huntington and Leland Stanford as rapacious capitalists and vile men. Raynor isn't here to try and set us straight. Instead, he accepts their faults and delivers a surprising personal account of their successes and failures. You wouldn't want to share dinner with these magnates, but by the time you finish Raynor's account you might not mind them as partners or politicians. -Steven