Charles Slack – författare

“This book is more than the story of an eccentric, driven woman; it is a window on the country between the Civil War and World War I when great fortunes were made—even by a woman.”—USA TodayA biography of Hetty Green, known as the “Witch of Wall Street,” who dueled with the giants of the Gilded Age and amassed a fortune of $100 million before women had the right to voteA full century before Martha Stewart, Oprah, and Madonna became icons of female entrepreneurship, there was Hetty Green, America’s richest woman, who stood alone among the roguish giants of the Gilded Age as the first lady of capitalism. While derided as “a witch of Wall Street” in her lifetime, today, Hetty ranks near the top of America’s list of greatest financiers.She was a female Citizen Kane and America’s richest woman. She bought and sold real estate and railroads, fought hard and sometimes dirty, cornered markets, and amassed cash reserves to rival the great banks. She was the lone woman among a gallery of Gilded Age rogue heroes-Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and the Vanderbilts.This new biography looks well beyond the lore and historical prejudices to present a brilliant, ruthless entrepreneur vastly ahead of her time, a financial empire ruler known simply as Hetty.

This acclaimed biography of the Gilded Age’s Queen of Wall Street is “a must-read for all aspiring moguls” (Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School).   When J. P. Morgan called a meeting of New York's financial leaders after the stock market crash of 1907, Hetty Green was the only woman in the room. The Guinness Book of World Records memorialized her as the World's Greatest Miser, and, indeed, this unlikely robber baron—who parlayed a comfortable inheritance into a fortune that was worth about 1.6 billion in today's dollars—was frugal to a fault. But in an age when women weren't even allowed to vote, never mind concern themselves with interest rates, she lived by her own rules. In Hetty, Charles Slack reexamines her life and legacy, giving us, at long last, a splendidly “nuanced portrait” (Newsweek) of one of the greatest—and most eccentric—financiers in American history.   This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.   “[Hetty’s] wry wit and colorful personality bring humor and pathos to this story. . . . [R]eaders cannot help from cheering for her at every turn.” —Booklist   “An exemplary retelling for a new generation.” —Kirkus Reviews “Entertaining. . . . Slack . . . concentrates on telling a good story and telling it well.” —Publishers Weekly   “Wonderfully detailed.” —Forbes “Page-turning.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch “Fascinating.” —New York Post