{"product_id":"9780253110602","title":"Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers","description":"\u003cp\u003eInvisible Giants is the Horatio Alger-esque tale of a pair of reclusive\u003cbr\u003e Cleveland brothers, Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen, who rose from\u003cbr\u003e poverty to become two of the most powerful men in America. They controlled the\u003cbr\u003e country's largest railroad system -- a network of track reaching from the Atlantic\u003cbr\u003e to Salt Lake City and from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. On the eve of the Great\u003cbr\u003e Depression they were close to controlling the country's first coast-to-coast rail\u003cbr\u003e system -- a goal that still eludes us. They created the model upper-class suburb of\u003cbr\u003e Shaker Heights, Ohio, with its unique rapid transit access. They built Cleveland's\u003cbr\u003e landmark Terminal Tower and its innovative \"city within a city\" complex.\u003cbr\u003e Indisputably, they created modern Cleveland.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eYet beyond a small,\u003cbr\u003e closely knit circle, the bachelor Van Sweringen brothers were enigmas. Their actions\u003cbr\u003e were aggressive, creative, and bold, but their manner was modest, mild, and\u003cbr\u003e retiring. Dismissed by many as mere shoestring financial manipulators, they created\u003cbr\u003e enduring works, which remain strong today. The Van Sweringen story begins in\u003cbr\u003e early-20th-century Cleveland suburban real estate and reaches its zenith in the\u003cbr\u003e heady late 1920s, amid the turmoil of national transportation power politics and\u003cbr\u003e unprecedented empire-building. As the Great Depression destroyed many of their\u003cbr\u003e fellow financiers, the \"Vans\" survived through imaginative stubbornness --\u003cbr\u003e until tragedy ended their careers almost simultaneously. Invisible Giants is the\u003cbr\u003e first comprehensive biography of these two remarkable if mysterious men.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Indiana University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47101206495472,"sku":"9780253110602","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780253110602_p0.jpg?v=1769912367","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780253110602","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}