Mr John Steele Gordon is an independent author and historian who specializes in business and financial history He has written numerous books on Americas financial history including The Scarlet Woman of Wall Street A History of Wall Street in the 1860s and Hamiltons Blessing The Extraordinary Life and Times of our National Debt In this episode he discusses his latest work Washingtons Monument And the Fascinating History of the Obelisk Mr Gordon spoke at a Ford Evening Book Talk at Mount Vernon on March 1 2017