American Disruptor - by Roland de Wolk

Book Synopsis

The rags-to-riches story of Silicon Valley's original disruptor.

American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford - from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" - reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America's transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors.

It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America's most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him--his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel--a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford's rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.

From the Back Cover

"...readable and entertaining. . . . De Wolk not only introduces a much more believable Stanford, warts and all, but also does a great job of showing how his legacy and reputation was managed, massaged and sanitized after his death."--True West

"American Disruptor provides a dense but swift-moving primer on Stanford's rise from tavern owner's son to tycoon."--Stanford Magazine

"The original tech bro? Leland Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University, emerges as a spiritual forefather of Silicon Valley-style monopolism, exploitation and conflicts of interest in this dramatic new biography by Bay Area journalism professor Roland De Wolk."--KQED Arts

"...[a] superb new account of Stanford's 'preposterous career and life.'"--Berkeleyside

"...[Stanford] was an uneducated anti-intellectual, yet defined himself as "a technologist" and wanted Stanford University to thrive as a trade school. He played a major role in vaulting America into peak ascendancy, yet had few qualms bilking taxpayers out of millions of dollars in the process (before going on to be a U.S. Senator). And those are just a few of the threads that De Wolk pulls to weave an engaging and highly relevant portrait of a profoundly influential, turbulent and, yes--"scandalous" life."--The Six Fifty

"A rip-roaring new biography of the robber baron & politico after whom Stanford University is named. How *that* happened is one of many great stories told by ⁦author Roland De Wolk. . . . [I] highly recommend it."--William Powers, author of Hamlet's BlackBerry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age

"Leland Stanford was once a man, but he has become a monument. Roland De Wolk has the wit to recognize that by recovering the man, he can tell us not only about Stanford but a great deal about the university that made the man into a monument. The book could not come at a better time. Today Stanford University rides the horse of entrepreneurship as hard as Leland Stanford raced his famous trotting horses. This is an entertaining and rollicking biography."--Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University

"Deeply researched and richly detailed, American Disruptor chronicles the life of Leland Stanford and the wide-open world in which he lived. From Gold Rush days to completion of the first transcontinental railroad to the founding of Stanford University, Roland De Wolk skillfully unfolds this narrative about a bold, darkly contradictory man who, in his way, constantly made history."--Barry Siegel, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Dreamers and Schemers

"American Disruptor is beautifully written and fully researched with analysis and documentation. This is the story of Leland Stanford, an early failure, an entrepreneur, and the visionary that linked America's East and West with a ribbon of steel. Stanford was the enigmatic serial entrepreneur who laid the foundation for Stanford University and the world-impacting entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley."--John McLaughlin, President, Silicon Valley Historical Association

Review Quotes

"American Disruptor provides a dense but swift-moving primer on Stanford's rise from tavern owner's son to tycoon." -- "Stanford Magazine"

"A superb new account of Stanford's 'preposterous career and life.'"-- "Berkeleyside"

"Readable and entertaining. . . . De Wolk not only introduces a much more believable Stanford, warts and all, but also does a great job of showing how his legacy and reputation was managed, massaged and sanitized after his death."-- "True West"

"Stanford was an uneducated anti-intellectual, yet defined himself as "a technologist" and wanted Stanford University to thrive as a trade school. He played a major role in vaulting America into peak ascendancy, yet had few qualms bilking taxpayers out of millions of dollars in the process (before going on to be a U.S. Senator). And those are just a few of the threads that De Wolk pulls to weave an engaging and highly relevant portrait of a profoundly influential, turbulent and, yes--"scandalous" life."-- "The Six Fifty"

"The original tech bro? Leland Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University, emerges as a spiritual forefather of Silicon Valley-style monopolism, exploitation and conflicts of interest in this dramatic new biography by Bay Area journalism professor Roland De Wolk."-- "KQED Arts"

About the Author

Roland De Wolk is an investigative reporter in print, broadcast, and online journalism. He is a historian, university adjunct, and, of course, an author.