MultiStories: 55 Antique Skyscrapers and the Business Tycoons Who Built Them

"More than 100 years ago, towering marvels like New York's Flatiron Building thrilled the public and transformed cities across the country. Now take a tour of the best of these elegant landmarks still standing today in 31 U.S. and 5 international cities. Packed with colorful tales of the powerful executives and self-made millionaires who commissioned the country's first skyscrapers, MultiStories also traces the emergence of modern corporations in banking, media, transportation, insurance, manufacturing, entertainment, and other industries that fed the explosive growth of American cities at the start of the 20th century. Learn the surprising and inspiring stories of Gilded Age rags-to-riches risk-takers who invested in these so-called "machines that make the land pay" - soaring structures that proclaimed their owners' influence and remain as legacies of a fascinating, forgotten past"--