King of the Alley

"Robert F. Jones strives to comprehend the range of the various political, entrepreneurial, and speculative activities of ‘The king of the Alley’ (Thomas Jefferson’s title for Duer.) In the process he offers us an important glimpse of the interrelationship of Duer’s government and business careers. … The author thus provides an important service to scholars."—Paul A. Gilje, Business History Review

"Insider trading, securities fraud, conflict of interest, rampant speculation, bankruptcy Robert—although this sounds like the 1980s and early 1990s, Robert F. Jones has focused on these activities during the founding of the republic in the 1780s and 1790s. … Jones’ portrait of Duer as a scheming speculator … is well researched and persuasive."—Carl E. Swanson, The Historian

"Robert Jones’s study … offers many valuable insights on the period and on Duer’s personality flaws. … More important, Jones analyzes the business ethics of the early republic in which men like Duer freely mixed their desire for personal gain with matters of public policy. … [T]his book is well written, and through an in-depth analysis of Duer’s career it provides a unique look at a personal and business failure during the early republic."—John Haeger, Journal of the Early Republic

"This meticulous reconstruction of William Duer’s life in New York and the new nation reveals a man who ‘belonged to the middle ranks’ … of the Revolutionary generation but was never happy there. … It is not easy to reconstruct the careers of middling Americans in this rapidly changing era, and the depths of Jones’s research … is clear. … As this study presents Duer, we have a fascinating glimpse of one kind of Revolutionary…"—Cathy Matson, The William and Mary Quarterly

"The spectacular bankruptcy of a colourful character in sleazy circumstances has a certain attraction for writers. Of the sheer tedium of failure, the painful attempt to regain credibility and creditworthiness, it is more difficult to write. … Jones has retold his [Duer’s] story in … much detail…"—Colin Brooks, The English Historical Review

"[T]his readable and nicely crafted biography, … The King of the Alley is a condensation of Robert Jones’s long-term study of Duer from which historians have learned much about the intricacies of finance in the post-Revolutionary period. This work’s particular strengths provide insights into the economics of the Revolutionary War, the new opportunities created by its successful conclusion, and the boundaries of this new economic climate. The multifaceted career of this American entrepreneur is aptly portrayed as both fascinating and intriguing. … [T]he author and publishes are to be applauded for making his milieu accessible to a more general history readership."—Stefan Bielinksi, New York History