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  • The American Scholar

    CALIFORNIA SCHEMING

    Jun 01, 2022 4 minutes
    Review by Susan Berfield

    In 1905, Jane Stanford was likely the wealthiest woman in San Francisco. She had railroad money and real estate, including a compound in Palo Alto and a mansion in Nob Hill, built for a life she only occasionally still lived. She had suffered the deaths of her only child, Leland Jr., and her husband, Leland Sr., and for years had been on her own. She had acquaintances, a few close friends, some family, many employees, and more than one lawyer. She had her spirit guides. And she had the university she had founded with her husband in honor of their son.

    At 76, Stanford wasn’t afraid of death, and maybe even looked forward to an afterlife with

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