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I re-read Nostromo when writing The First Tycoon. Let me add here that Conrad is a favorite as well.

I've written elsewhere of Tolstoy's riches, so visible in his two giant novels. I believe in reading fiction as nourishment for my writing. More than that, he brings to life secondary characters, an overlooked component in many biographies, so that the reader clearly sees the interplay of egos, emotions, and agendas in Lyndon Johnson's life. I read Master of the Senate when I was writing The First Tycoon, and I was overwhelmed by his ability to create real, believable characters from his research. In the realm of nonfiction, Robert Caro, too, sets the standard. He balances Gould's private and business lives wonderfully, creating a real model for a biography of a business figure. Klein's elegant work matches tremendous research and scholarship with crystal-clear explanations of business matters and, again, a brisk narrative pace.

McPherson combines narrative momentum, contextual discussions, and character sketches in such a marvelous manner that (as one reviewer put it) you read this book rather breathlessly, as if you don't know how it will all come out. But I'm not speaking at the moment of sources, but rather literary influences. I'm thinking, for example, of James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, his splendid one-volume history of the Civil War era, or Maury Klein's The Life and Legend of Jay Gould. Some of these books included essential information, of course. As promised, here are a few books that influenced me as I wrote The First Tycoon.