The story of "the Andrew Carnegie before there was an Andrew Carnegie"—Michigan's wealthiest and most influential Gilded Aged industrialist.

Eber Brock Ward (1811–1875) began his career as a cabin boy on his uncle's sailing vessels, but when he died in 1875, he was the wealthiest man in Michigan. Ward was engaged in numerous booming Michigan industries, including steamboat, railroad, lumber, mining, iron, and steel. In 1864, his facility near Detroit became the first in the nation to produce steel using the more efficient Bessemer method. Author Michael W. Nagle demonstrates how much of Ward's success was due to his ability to vertically integrate his business operations, which was undertaken decades before other more famous moguls, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. And yet, despite his countless successes, Ward's captivating life was filled with ruthless competition, labor conflict, familial dispute, and scandal.