Roland De Wolk - American Disruptor: The Scandalous Life of Leland Stanford

Thank you to my family, friends, and colleagues who pushed, goaded, and dared me as well as brainstormed with me, checked me, and just rolled their eyes when someone needed to:

First to my thermonuclear-powerful family: Carla Marinucci, Joseph De Wolk, and Antonio De Wolk. You guys are the central engine, fuel, and blessing of my life.

The James Brown of Bay Area journalism, Phil Matier, has been my most consistent, sharpest, and extraordinarily generous critic, fan, and counselor. And thats burying the lede: He is a true friend and solid ally, always in my corner. Thank you.

Longtime friend, author, journalist, and Teddy Kennedy imitator Jack Cheevers gets a special muchas gracias, as does brilliant, heart-of-oak friend Stefan Klocek. An extra debt of gratitude goes to stalwart bosom buddy Tony Thayer who helped sustain me with loyal friendship, cold beers, and pep talks. Garry Apgar, Adam Hochschild, Wendy Miller, Randy and Maureen Shandobil, Leonard Sellers, Teresa Drenick, Michele Kerr, and Stacy Finz all assisted me early and ably in many important ways.

A particularly wide and deep sense of gratitude goes to Professor Richard White of Stanford Universitys History Department who took time for me on more than one occasion, despite the constant pressures he faces from students, colleagues, and his own significant deadlines.

William Powers of the MIT Media Lab and Martha Sherrill, both noted journalists, authors, not to mention all-round quality human beings and brainiacs, took time and trouble to encourage me, warn me away from falling off the trapeze, and to find others who understood the importance of Leland Stanford and his role in the creation of Silicon Valley, as well as the significance of techs effect on all our lives.

Noted author, reporter, and UC Berkeley comrade Don Lattin helped me connect with Reed Malcolm of the University of California Press. All he received in return was a sandwich and ginger beer. Stay cool, Don.

Reed Malcolm! deserves a very special thank you for being the consummate writers editor who gets it, stays with it, and gets the best out his authors. He has that rare trait of being deeply informed while remaining perfectly tuned to the take-home message. In other words, he sees the forest and the trees with grace, ease, and natural ability.

A special deep bow to Julie Van Pelt, copyeditor extraordinaire. Any errors I have committed I have done on my own and despite her fastidious attention to accuracy, detail, and clarity. Eagle-eyed proofreader, Janine Baer, saved me from many embarrassments. The ones remaining are all my own.

Archna Patel, Peter Perez, Emilia Thiuri, and Tom Sullivan at UC Press are part of a mighty team that helped raise me up in so many different, crucial ways. I can only salute their talents, hard work, and integrity. Indexer Susan Storch has also been a crucial player in the completion of this work. Thank you all.

There are dozens of other professionals, coasttocoast who have been critically important to the completion of this work.

The Oakland Public Library circulation and reference staff; the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley; the California State Library, with especial gratitude to the California History Room and Government Documents; California Historical Society, with especial gratitude to Frances Kaplan; Stanford Special Collections, with especial gratitude to Tim Noakes; James C. Scott, Librarian, Sacramento Public Library; Bryanna M. Ryan, curator of archives, Placer County Archive and Research Center, Placer County Museums; Michelle A. Krowl, Library of Congress; the Huntington Library, San Marino; San Francisco State University J. Paul Leonard Library; California State Railroad Museum Library; Dorothy Lazard in the Oakland Library History Room; Jacklyn Hoyt in the Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries; Oakland Family Search Library, Oakland; Sharon Goetz and Melissa Martin of the Mark Twain Papers, UC Berkeley; San Francisco Public Library Koshland History and Newspaper-Magazine rooms; Kelly C. Wallace, California Subject Specialist in the History and Genealogy Department of the Los Angeles Central Library; Council Bluffs Public Library; Alex Guilbert at the Center for Sacramento History; Marcia Eymann, Sacramento City Historian; Leigh Johnsen of the San Joaquin Historical Society and Center for Sacramento History; Anthony Opalka, Albany city historian; Douglas McCombs, Albany Institute; Jim Davies, reference librarian at Albany Library; Alice Kane and Rhonda R. McClure, New England Historic Genealogical Society; Oneida County Historical Society; everyone at the Port Washington Historical Society; Ozaukee County Historical Society; Ann Arbor Public Library; Doe Library, UC Berkeley; Margaret Whitehorn, Peg Brady and Shanna Dickson at the Cantor Art Center, Stanford University; U.S. Department of Treasury Public Information Office; California State Archives; California Society of Pioneers.

A note regarding virtual libraries and archives such as the HathiTrust, ArchiveGrid, Online Archives of California, Google Books, JSTOR, or the California Digital Newspaper Collection: I have used those and many more liberally, and modern scholarship would be infinitely the poorer without them. The idiosyncratic, interesting site run by the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum fits this category. All are wonderful online destinations and often excellent modern models for some of the equally wonderful, if sometimes still pleasantly mid-twentieth-century, collections listed above.

Michael Salerno, University of California Hastings College of the Law; David Carrillo, UC Berkeley School of Law and his two brilliant charges, Michael and David Belcher; Kerwin Klein, UC Berkeley (emeritus); Charles Egan, San Francisco State University; Bruce Cain, Stanford University; William Deverell, UC San Diego; Thomas Clark, Sacramento State University; Kathleen A. Cairns, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; Alex Filippenko, UC Berkeley; Frank Bajaras, California State University, Channel Islands; Peter Richardson, San Francisco State University; Richard Orsi, California State University, East Bay (emeritus); Timothy Greene, Cazenovia College; John Robert Greene, Cazenovia College.