Episode 423: Book Review: John Jacob Astor

This episode is a book review for John Jacob Astor and The First Great American Fortune by Alexander Emmerich. This biography traces Astor’s rise from a German immigrant to the wealthiest man in American. The first modern ‘millionaire’. Astor created the template for what we now think of as entrepreneur, businessman, investor, real estate developer, and philanthropist. He created businesses, created the first American settlement on the Pacific coast, Astoria, Oregon. He created hotels such as Astor House and the Waldorf-Astoria. He donated the Astor Library to the city of New York.