American Disruptor

A Sweeping Story of Power, Corruption, and the West – Setting the Stage for Silicon Valley

On Sale Now 

The true origin of the Silicon Valley and all the riches, havoc, and global change it has caused was an unlikely frontier bar in upper New York State. And that’s the just the beginning of this remarkable story.

Stanford’s untold tale is that of a young man who failed at most every task he attempted, then in desperation ran away to Gold Rush California where he fell in with – and ultimately led – three partners intent on getting fabulously rich.

They succeeded, but to paraphrase the famous, if almost certainly apocryphal, Balzac quote, behind every great fortune lies a great crime.

In Leland Stanford’s story, there were many. And it ended with murder.