One hundred forty years ago, four shopkeepers inSacramento, California, rose tobecome the forcebehind theAmerican transcontinental railroad, achieving along the way wealth beyondmeasure. To build influenceand maintain power, theylied, bribed, and, when necessary, arranged forobstacles, both human and legal, to disappear. Their names were Collis Huntington, LelandStanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, andthey were known as The Big Four or The Associates. Theirdrive formoney-nothingmore, nothing less-was epic. Theirlegacy is a university, public gardens, museums, mansions, banks, andlibraries-and to a largedegree, California itself. A captivatingchronicle of a crucial period inAmerican urbanexpansion, The Associates is a true-to-life taleof ruthless ambition, staggeringgreed, and the making of anation.