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Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers by Harwood, Herbert H., Jr., Invisible Giants is the Horatio Alger-esque tale of a pair of reclusive Cleveland brothers, Oris Paxton tower city cleveland ohio and Mantis James Van Sweringen, who rose from poverty to become two of the most powerful men in America. They controlled the country's largest railroad system -- a network of track reaching from the Atlantic to Salt Lake City tower city cleveland ohio and from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. On the eve of the Great Depression they were close to controlling the country's first coast-to-coast rail system -- a goal that still eludes us. They created the model upper-class suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, with its unique rapid transit access. They built Cleveland's landmark Terminal Tower tower city cleveland ohio and its innovative "city within a city" complex. Indisputably, they created modern Cleveland. Yet beyond a small, closely knit circle, the bachelor Van Sweringen brothers were enigmas. Their actions were aggressive, creative, tower city cleveland ohio and bold, but their manner was modest, mild, tower city cleveland ohio and retiring. Dismissed by many as mere shoe-string financial manipulators, they created enduring works, which remain strong today. The Van Sweringen story begins in early-20th-century Cleveland suburban real estate tower city cleveland ohio and reaches its zenith in the heady late 1920s, amid the turmoil of national transportation power politics tower city cleveland ohio and unprecedented empire-building. As the Great Depression destroyed many of their fellow financiers, the "Vans" survived through imaginative stubbornness -- until tragedy ended their careers almost simultaneously. Invisible Giants is the first comprehensive biography of these two remarkable if mysterious men.
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