It sounds like it could be a script from a Hollywood movie. He was an unschooled fistfighter who came to command the respect of New York’s social elite. And he was a father who struggled with a gambling-addicted son, a husband who was loving yet abusive and was a father who intentionally neglected his daughters. As an older man, he became obsessed with contacting the dead, especially his first wife. Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the U.S.. was his spiritual counselor.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was, and still is, an American icon but in some ways, was also an enigma.

He was born on Staten Island in New York when George Washington was U.S. President and rose from young boatman to builder of the country’s largest fleet of steamships before becoming the head of a vast railroad empire called the New York Central Railroad.

This is his story from his humble beginnings on Staten Island through to being the founder of a dynasty and creator of an impossibly vast fortune.

He helped launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape the island of Manhattan and created the corporation that we know today. In fact, much of our economy is based directly and indirectly on the actions of Cornelius Vanderbilt in the late 1800s

It's a fascinating story and complete with huge fortunes, power-hungry men, financial schemes, adultery, corrupt politicians and judges, and men fleeing across state lines to avoid capture.