Malkin Lecture Series
“I am Afraid of this Man":
How Cornelius Vanderbilt Conquered New York's Social Aristocracy by Remaking American Business
October 7, 2013
Veterans Room
Doors Open 6:00pm
Program 6:30pm
Pulitzer Prize-winning author T.J. Stiles tells the dramatic story of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man and American icon who, through his genius and force of will, did more than perhaps any other individual to create modern capitalism. Commodore Vanderbilt had a troubled but ultimately successful relationship with high society in New York. After years of mutual hostility, the turnabout came with his success in helping to invent the giant corporation. The practice of corporate diplomacy changed his own character to some extent, and the riches he gained allowed him to overshadow the patricians and force his way into their company. His business and social success set the stage for the later Vanderbilt dynasty that came to define the lasting idea of Gilded Age social aristocracy.
T.J. Stiles is the author of The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award), and Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, a New York Times Notable Book and a Journalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A past Gilder Lehrman Fellow in American History at the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, he is currently working on a biography of George Armstrong Custer with the support of a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
The Malkin Lecture Series presents scholars and experts on topics relating to the Park Avenue Armory and its pivotal role in the civic, cultural and aesthetic evolution of New York City in the 19th and early-20th centuries.
The Malkin Lecture Series is funded by a generous grant from Mr. and Mrs. Peter L. Malkin and The Malkin Fund, Inc.
TICKETS
$15 General Admission
$12 Students (with ID), Seniors (65+)
$10 Park Avenue Armory Members
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You may also be interested in attending the following Malkin Lectures:
Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation
Monday, September 16, 6:30pm
THOMAS NAST: THE FATHER OF MODERN POLITICAL CARTOONS
Monday, November 4, 6:30pm
PRE-RAPHAELITES IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA: A TRANSATLANTIC AVANT-GARDE
Monday, November 18, 6:30pm
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