there was ever a grand central station in new york city, there was a grand central depot that cornelius vanderbilt created as a terminal for his train lines in new york city. to this day there's a street that runs right up one side of grand central station that's called vanderbilt avenue. that's named after him. and for years, for decades, on the other side of grand central station, on the other side of it from vanderbilt avenue, there was another monument to va vanderbilt that didn't use his last name. it used his nickname. the nickname that everybody used for cornelius vanderbilt was the commodore. commodore is a high rank in the navy. cornelius vanderbilt never served in the navy, but apparently he got the nickname of the commodore in his days as a kid running those ferry services in new york harbor. the other guys who worked the harbor along side him called him commodore basically as a way of teasing him, and it stuck. then that kid who they mocked as the commodore grew up to amass one of the largest fortunes in american history. the kind of fortune that leaves a mark. in 1917 right next to th

vanderbilt avenue, a huge new hotel went up. thousands of rooms. it was called the commodore hotel. it was named after cornelius "the commodore" vanderbilt. had a statue of vanderbilt right out front. that commodore hotel was one of new york's big successful shmancy centrally located famous hotels starting in the early part of the 20th century and going on for decades. it was right next to grand central. it used to be cornelius vanderbilt's old grand central depot. it became grand central station. the hotel was right next to grand central station. the hotel was huge. it did great for decades. did great until it didn't. by the 1970s, about 100 years after cornelius vanderbilt's death, new york city was in what we have come to think of as its drop dead phase. the big old commodore hotel right next to grand central station, it was on its last legs. commodore hotel went bankrupt in the 1970s around the time that new york as a city thought that it was going bankrupt too. when a young new york developer decided that he wanted to buy the commodore out of bankruptcy and redo it, that became one of the biggest and highe

by the civil war era cornelius vanderbilt was one of america's great railroad tycoons. before there was ever a grand central station in new york city, there was a grand central depot that cornelius vanderbilt kr created for his train lines in new york city. there's a street that runs up one side of grand central station that's named after him and for years, for decades, on the other side of grand central station, there was another monument of vanderbilt that didn't use his last name. it used his nickname. the nickname was the commodore. he's high-ranked in the navy. he got the name of the commodore in his days as a kid running those ferry services in new york harbor. the other guys called him commodore as a way of teasing him and it stuck and that kid who they mocked as the commodore grew up as one of the largest fortunes in american history, the kind of fortune that leaves a mark. in 1917, right next to the grand central station, a huge new hotel went up with thousands of rooms called the commodore hotel, named after cornelius the commodore vanderbilt, a statue of vand

cornelius vanderbilt was one of the richest americans ever.f sin anonymous with what it means to be a rich person now, right? vanderbilt. cornelius vanderbilt was a self-made man. he was a new yorker. he started off as a kid running ferry services between staten island and manhattan. he worked his way up to running and owning multiple ferry services, and then steamboat lines. started off with regional steamboat lines, and then ultimately he got to ocean going steamboats. he hit the real pay dirt when he started

. >> cornelius vanderbilt was one of the richest americans ever.o much so that his name is kind of sin anonymous with what it means to be a rich person now, right? vanderbilt. cornelius vabder built was a self-made man. he was a new yorker. he started off as a kid running ferry services. he ran and owned multiple ferry services, and then steamboat lines.

. >>> cornelius vanderbilt was one of the richest americans ever, so much so that his name is synonymousrich person now. vanderbilt. he was a self-made man, a new yorker, started off as a kid running ferry services between staten and manhattan and running and owning multiple ferry services and then steamboat lines and started off with original steamboat lines and got to ocean going steamboats. he started to close the loop on transportation and got into the business of shipping by sea and

and "first tycoon, the epic life of cornelius vanderbilt." it was the winner of the pulitzer prize in 2010 and the national book award in 2009. most recently his biography of george custer, the 2016 pulitzer prize winner. seriously, t.j., i'd call it quits. two pulitzer prizes, a national book prize, this is an incredible record you have achieved in a very short time. we are very, very pleased to have you here. t.j. stiles who will be speaking to us about george custer. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. we're on c-span live so i'll keep my cursing to a minimum. if you could please, though mute your cell phones, i'd really appreciate it. i'm here to talk about somebody nobody's ever heard of, george armstrong custer, and i decided to write about him because obviously i hate myself. he has been so written about, some people have estimated -- and i have no idea myself -- that he may be the second-most written about figure in american history after abraham lincoln and i do not write my book because all of that work was terrible. in fact, lots