This book is narrative history at its best.  Larry Haeg, once an executive with Wells Fargo, has vividly told the story of the conflict in 1901 between E.H. Harriman and Jacob Schiff of the Union Pacific Railroad and James J. Hill and J.P. Morgan of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads to gain majority control of the stock of the Northern Pacific.  The Harriman-Schiff stock purchases, at first covert, led to a huge bubble in May of 1901 of the value of Northern Pacific stock.  The end result was the ruination of some investors and the near collapse of some of the brokerage houses and banks that were involved.

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