H.W. Brands

Proving himself to himself was no small matter.

He understood the code of his social class enough to affect an air of indifference about life.

Time after time during the next six months, he would put me together again.

Cities force growth and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial. Ralph Waldo Emerson.

He was a product of a culture where it was generally counterproductive to hold grudges.

William 'Boss' Tweed was in such thorough control in New York that he made money off of the report the committee printed after investigating him.