styles for the first tycoon, "the epic life of cornelius vanderbilt" published by author knopf. and this year's winner of the nonfiction prize for the national book award is for the book about a man who left an indelible mark on this city and this street, t.j. stiles for the first tycoon. [applause] [applause] >> you have to excuse me. this is not out of body experience. i actually did prepare a few remarks so i am sorry-- i would like to preface my thank you with a few words that i hope will give it more weight. before i became a full-time writer i worked for ten years in publishing both an academic and trade. when i told my last boss that i was leaving to write she said, i always knew you wanted to be on the other side. you would have thought i was going to tunnel into the berlin wall. i am reporting back to say that there is no other side. i rather nivat from the beginning when i was first at oxford university press straight out of graduate school. would become a fine writer with an mfa from cornell taught me that this thing all of us and habit, the culture of the written wor

yours truly, cornelius vanderbilt.he first time i saw that was in his obituary in "the new york times" in 1977. and i think not to -- not to careful writer probably took something he had heard that actually echoes testimony he gave in 1867 in a completely, 20 years later, an unrelated issue when he had shut off all train traffic into new york city, and other stories. and he said, you know, the law to my mind was too slow when i have the power in my own hands to punish. he said -- he said then i'll take things into my own hands when i come. you know, that was a specific incident that was years later and i think it got translated into this letter, which i think he ever wrote. what happened is that here, on his grand tour of europe in 1853 and a private yacht that was the size of a trans-atlantic steamship. it became a minor "after words." and while he was away, his partners in the accessory transit company betrayed him and kicked him out of the company, held back money that was owed to him. and when he came back he was o