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Books

The robber baron who 'bought judges as other men buy food’

A review of Empty Mansions, by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr, a materialistic, yet hypnotic bestseller about W.A. Clark, one of the most ruth­less accumulators of wealth in American history

2 August 2014

9:00 AM

2 August 2014

9:00 AM

Empty Mansions Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr

Atlantic, pp.456, £16.99, ISBN: 9781782394761

The robber barons of the gilded age, at the turn of the 20th century, were the most ruthless accumulators of wealth in the history of the United States, and none of them was less handicapped by moral scruples than W.A. Clark. He was up there near the pinnacle of acquisitiveness with Rockefeller but was not as legendary in popular imagination.

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