"Mr. Schwab is a genius. I have never met his equal." So stated renowned industrialist Andrew Carnegie about Charles M. Schwab, successively the president of Carnegie Steel, U.S. Steel, and Bethlehem Steel.

Though an inveterate gambler and womanizer, Schwab held a smile and charisma that got him in and out of multiple adventures. This biography presents the complex legacy of the man Thomas Edison once called the "master hustler," from his start as a stake-driver in the engineering corps to his ascendancy to American steel magnate.