Invisible Giants is the Horatio Alger-esque tale of a pair of reclusive                  Cleveland brothers, Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen, who rose from                  poverty to become two of the most powerful men in America. They controlled the                  country's largest railroad system -- a network of track reaching from the Atlantic                  to Salt Lake City and from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. On the eve of the Great                  Depression they were close to controlling the country's first coast-to-coast rail                  system -- a goal that still eludes us. They created the model upper-class suburb of                  Shaker Heights, Ohio, with its unique rapid transit access. They built Cleveland's                  landmark Terminal Tower and its innovative "city within a city" complex.                  Indisputably, they created modern Cleveland. Yet beyond a small,                  closely knit circle, the bachelor Van Sweringen brothers were enigmas. Their actions                  were aggressive, creative, and bold, but their manner was modest, mild, and                  retiring. Dismissed by many as mere shoestring financial manipulators, they created                  enduring works, which remain strong today. The Van Sweringen story begins in                  early-20th-century Cleveland suburban real estate and reaches its zenith in the                  heady late 1920s, amid the turmoil of national transportation power politics and                  unprecedented empire-building. As the Great Depression destroyed many of their                  fellow financiers, the "Vans" survived through imaginative stubbornness --                  until tragedy ended their careers almost simultaneously. Invisible Giants is the                  first comprehensive biography of these two remarkable if mysterious men.

Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers (Ohio) PDF

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