Federalist Tycoon: The Life and Times of Israel Thorndike [Hardcover]

Born poor in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1755, the young Israel Thorndike was a fisherman and ship owner who made a small fortune as a Revolutionary War privateer. Later he became a wealthy merchant, a delegate to the Massachusetts Ratification Convention and a director of the National Bank in Boston. A longtime Federalist legislator, he was highly regarded within the radical circles that contemplated secession during the Jefferson administration and the War of 1812. After the war, Thorndike concluded his multifaceted career as the leading venture capitalist financing the early Industrial Revolution. Sadly, his story is little known. Federalist Tycoon pulls Thorndike's life and career from the shadows and fully examines his impact on American economic development.Timothy H. Kistner is an attorney in Boston where he lives with his wife, Alex. A graduate of Tufts University and Boston University School of Law, he previously served in the Obama administration at the Department of Homeland Security.

In this well researched and finely written biography, Kistner deconstructs the image of Israel Thorndike as the Scrooge-like tight fisted Yankee wedded to Federalist ideology. Instead, we meet a person who rises from nothing to become one of the nations wealthiest men. Along the way he makes his share of enemies and mistakes but through the prism of Thorndikes extraordinary life we get a clear view of the fierce battles that shaped the economy and politics of American Republic in its early days while at the same time catching a glimpse into the family social life of New Englands elite. William M. Fowler Jr., Recipient of the 2023 Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award

With brisk pacing and a fine sense of the broader American narrative, Kistner gives us a full and rich biography of a man who was arguably the most successful entrepreneur in early New England. Kistner casts Israel Thorndike as a peerless businessman and a significant Flƒ,