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Never Victorious, Never Defeated
Cornelia deWitt Marshall struggles to build her family's railroad into a personal financial empire
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
124 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Taylor Caldwell
151 books550 followers Also known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner.
Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England. In 1907 she emigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brother. Her father died shortly after the move, and the family struggled. At the age of eight she started to write stories, and in fact wrote her first novel, The Romance of Atlantis, at the age of twelve (although it remained unpublished until 1975). Her father did not approve such activity for women, and sent her to work in a bindery. She continued to write prolifically, however, despite ill health. (In 1947, according to TIME magazine, she discarded and burned the manuscripts of 140 unpublished novels.)
In 1918-1919, she served in the United States Navy Reserve. In 1919 she married William F. Combs. In 1920, they had a daughter, Mary (known as "Peggy"). From 1923 to 1924 she was a court reporter in New York State Department of Labor in Buffalo, New York. In 1924, she went to work for the United States Department of Justice, as a member of the Board of Special Inquiry (an immigration tribunal) in Buffalo. In 1931 she graduated from SUNY Buffalo, and also was divorced from William Combs.
Caldwell then married her second husband, Marcus Reback, a fellow Justice employee. She had a second child with Reback, a daughter Judith, in 1932. They were married for 40 years, until his death in 1971.
In 1934, she began to work on the novel Dynasty of Death, which she and Reback completed in collaboration. It was published in 1938 and became a best-seller. "Taylor Caldwell" was presumed to be a man, and there was some public stir when the author was revealed to be a woman. Over the next 43 years, she published 42 more novels, many of them best-sellers. For instance, This Side of Innocence was the biggest fiction seller of 1946. Her works sold an estimated 30 million copies. She became wealthy, traveling to Europe and elsewhere, though she still lived near Buffalo.
Her books were big sellers right up to the end of her career. During her career as a writer, she received several awards.
She was an outspoken conservative and for a time wrote for the John Birch Society's monthly journal American Opinion and even associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, On Growing Up Tough, appeared in 1971, consisting of many edited-down articles from American Opinion.
Around 1970, she became interested in reincarnation. She had become friends with well-known occultist author Jess Stearn, who suggested that the vivid detail in her many historical novels was actually subconscious recollection of previous lives. Supposedly, she agreed to be hypnotized and undergo "past-life regression" to disprove reincarnation. According to Stearn's book, The Search of a Soul - Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives, Caldwell instead began to recall her own past lives - eleven in all, including one on the "lost continent" of Lemuria.
In 1972, she married William Everett Stancell, a retired real estate developer, but divorced him in 1973. In 1978, she married William Robert Prestie, an eccentric Canadian 17 years her junior. This led to difficulties with her children. She had a long dispute with her daughter Judith over the estate of Judith's father Marcus; in 1979 Judith committed suicide.
Also in 1979, Caldwell suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, though she could still write. (She had been deaf since about 1965.) Her daughter Peggy accused Prestie of abusing and exploiting Caldwell, and there was a legal battle over her substantial assets.
She died of heart failure in Greenwich, Conn
Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England. In 1907 she emigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brother. Her father died shortly after the move, and the family struggled. At the age of eight she started to write stories, and in fact wrote her first novel, The Romance of Atlantis, at the age of twelve (although it remained unpublished until 1975). Her father did not approve such activity for women, and sent her to work in a bindery. She continued to write prolifically, however, despite ill health. (In 1947, according to TIME magazine, she discarded and burned the manuscripts of 140 unpublished novels.)
In 1918-1919, she served in the United States Navy Reserve. In 1919 she married William F. Combs. In 1920, they had a daughter, Mary (known as "Peggy"). From 1923 to 1924 she was a court reporter in New York State Department of Labor in Buffalo, New York. In 1924, she went to work for the United States Department of Justice, as a member of the Board of Special Inquiry (an immigration tribunal) in Buffalo. In 1931 she graduated from SUNY Buffalo, and also was divorced from William Combs.
Caldwell then married her second husband, Marcus Reback, a fellow Justice employee. She had a second child with Reback, a daughter Judith, in 1932. They were married for 40 years, until his death in 1971.
In 1934, she began to work on the novel Dynasty of Death, which she and Reback completed in collaboration. It was published in 1938 and became a best-seller. "Taylor Caldwell" was presumed to be a man, and there was some public stir when the author was revealed to be a woman. Over the next 43 years, she published 42 more novels, many of them best-sellers. For instance, This Side of Innocence was the biggest fiction seller of 1946. Her works sold an estimated 30 million copies. She became wealthy, traveling to Europe and elsewhere, though she still lived near Buffalo.
Her books were big sellers right up to the end of her career. During her career as a writer, she received several awards.
She was an outspoken conservative and for a time wrote for the John Birch Society's monthly journal American Opinion and even associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, On Growing Up Tough, appeared in 1971, consisting of many edited-down articles from American Opinion.
Around 1970, she became interested in reincarnation. She had become friends with well-known occultist author Jess Stearn, who suggested that the vivid detail in her many historical novels was actually subconscious recollection of previous lives. Supposedly, she agreed to be hypnotized and undergo "past-life regression" to disprove reincarnation. According to Stearn's book, The Search of a Soul - Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives, Caldwell instead began to recall her own past lives - eleven in all, including one on the "lost continent" of Lemuria.
In 1972, she married William Everett Stancell, a retired real estate developer, but divorced him in 1973. In 1978, she married William Robert Prestie, an eccentric Canadian 17 years her junior. This led to difficulties with her children. She had a long dispute with her daughter Judith over the estate of Judith's father Marcus; in 1979 Judith committed suicide.
Also in 1979, Caldwell suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, though she could still write. (She had been deaf since about 1965.) Her daughter Peggy accused Prestie of abusing and exploiting Caldwell, and there was a legal battle over her substantial assets.
She died of heart failure in Greenwich, Conn
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 11, 2013
Never Victorious, Never Defeated was published before Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. These books have many similarities, both being about the railroad industry, having a strong female main character, and dealing with issues of self-interest and capitalism vs. socialism and welfare.
If you've read Atlas Shrugged and were left feeling as if you'd been beat over the head with idealism, give this one a try. While Rand's philosophy takes over the storyline of Atlas at times (including a 70+ page monologue), Caldwell speaks about the same issues in a much more pleasing manner, leaving the reader to explore the issues through the context of the story.
If you've read Atlas Shrugged and were left feeling as if you'd been beat over the head with idealism, give this one a try. While Rand's philosophy takes over the storyline of Atlas at times (including a 70+ page monologue), Caldwell speaks about the same issues in a much more pleasing manner, leaving the reader to explore the issues through the context of the story.
September 6, 2019
This was a difficult book to read. I read an Ann Rand book in high school. This reminded me so much of that book. I felt despair because it encapsulated so much of what I fear. Corporate greed controlling our government, no longer a Democracy. Was it ever? The Robber Barons robbed our country of its Democracy. This book was published in 1954 and provides a story of the Gilded Age. And yet, as I watched a PBS documentary about the Gilded Age, I realized not much had changed. Still the 1%, the lobbyists, government for the wealthy, the working poor, an unfortunate majority supporting the rich in 2019.
February 20, 2021
“Si el hombre no consigue nunca ser victorioso, tampoco es nunca vencido,” Taylor Caldwell, Los insaciables. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Second Taylor’s Caldwell book I read, and I totally love her. 💘 This story takes you through late 1800’s and early 1900’s, and describes three generations of a family 👨👩👦👦that founded the powerful Interstate Railroad Company and fought for control. You can also read about communism, marxism and socialism. Honestly, it was a little hard to read because of the many family members and the added marriages, but I enjoyed every page. 👌🏻👌🏻
Éste es el segundo libro que leo de Taylor Caldwell y definitivamente ¡la amo! Esta historia te transporta a finales de 1800 e inicios de 1900, contándote la historia de una familia que fundó la poderosa compañía Interstate Railroad Company y sus tres generaciones las cuales luchan for poder y control. Además, esta lectura toca los temas del comunismo, el marxismo y el socialismo. Para ser sincera, esta lectura fue un poquito complicada ya que se desarrolla con muchas generaciones y sus personajes son numerosos.
Second Taylor’s Caldwell book I read, and I totally love her. 💘 This story takes you through late 1800’s and early 1900’s, and describes three generations of a family 👨👩👦👦that founded the powerful Interstate Railroad Company and fought for control. You can also read about communism, marxism and socialism. Honestly, it was a little hard to read because of the many family members and the added marriages, but I enjoyed every page. 👌🏻👌🏻
Éste es el segundo libro que leo de Taylor Caldwell y definitivamente ¡la amo! Esta historia te transporta a finales de 1800 e inicios de 1900, contándote la historia de una familia que fundó la poderosa compañía Interstate Railroad Company y sus tres generaciones las cuales luchan for poder y control. Además, esta lectura toca los temas del comunismo, el marxismo y el socialismo. Para ser sincera, esta lectura fue un poquito complicada ya que se desarrolla con muchas generaciones y sus personajes son numerosos.
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June 1, 2021This book was not easy to read specially because it is a little misleading, is not about Cornellia dewitt as it says in the plot, it is more like about all the men in the family, i was tempted to leave the book aside but in the end it starts to get a little bit interesting, it is not a romance novel, so if you are looking for it you wont find it, it is more about how governments and industries stand each other and how bloody socialists get inside these structures to brain wash en entire country to put the citizens against capitalism.
August 29, 2021
I enjoyed this book, very well written but it just felt a little inflated. The story drew me in so while it was long winded I couldn't abandon it. It felt like the writer counted pages, decided more pages were required and added 200 pages more, filling characters a little more. I am not doing justice to how well it was written, it certainly was that, it is however better suited for those who for the sake of a good piece of literature will put up with some waffle...not of the Belgian variety..
October 7, 2020
I love Taylor Caldwell. Never been disappointed with one of her books. This is one that deals with the Railroad and family behind it. Some of the ideas ring true right now with today's politics.
October 19, 2023
A family forward
This book has a slow start. Once you get to know the members and see their failings, you can also predict the salvation of the family and all of its members. There are surprises and predictability, but you can see the love. Unfortunately, it's takes each of them time to realize that the love is for each other and not the railroad they run and save and almost lose several times. It is set in the time of the robber barons, and the family is a part of that genre. In time, the family will retain the wealth, but will the road survive? And who will bring it to the next chapter?
This book has a slow start. Once you get to know the members and see their failings, you can also predict the salvation of the family and all of its members. There are surprises and predictability, but you can see the love. Unfortunately, it's takes each of them time to realize that the love is for each other and not the railroad they run and save and almost lose several times. It is set in the time of the robber barons, and the family is a part of that genre. In time, the family will retain the wealth, but will the road survive? And who will bring it to the next chapter?
July 28, 2018
La historia de una familia que surgió de nada y termino con el emporio de los ferrocarriles en esta historia se muestra las diferencias de naturaleza de dos hermanos mientras uno es astuto y avaricioso apreciado y admirado el otro es noble desinteresado generoso pero I travestido subestimado y despreciado por la mayoría se muestra como es su dependencia y como el capricho de una mujer cambia el destino de las primas hermanas dependientes de la hermanos... Al final muestra la naturaleza humana sin florituras ni su avisado es difícil de entender...
October 14, 2023
I’ve really enjoyed several of Taylor Caldwell’s other novels but this one was disappointing. The base story line was interesting but it rambled a lot and there were several times when I almost quit reading it. I wish I had as the ending was preposterous. I couldn’t figure out what point the author was trying to make as she kept confusing different economic and political philosophies and then came up with a half formed, vague conspiracy theory that made no sense. I thinK she just wanted to finish the book but didn’t know how
October 19, 2024
The DeWitts control the Interstate Railroad, which leads to a lot of family turmoil. When Aaron DeWitt dies, he leaves the railroad to be managed by Steve, his neglected older son who's just lost his wife instead of Rufus, the younger, favorite son. Both men have daughters; Lydia, Rufus's wife, is bringing up Alice's daughter alongside her own. She's also ended her conjugal relations with Rufus after the birth of their daughter. Rufus is determined to take the presidency of the railroad away from his brother; ten years later, Steve dies during the board meeting that would have stripped him of the presidency. Rufus and Lydia get a divorce and marry other people.
The next stage in the rivalry begins when Cornelia and Laura, the daughters of Rufus and Steve, marry very different men--Cornelia marries Allan Marshall, the son of Irish Catholic migrants, who's worked his way up from the rail yards to become a lawyer and inventor, while Laura marries Patrick Peale, a senator and the son of an important politician. The rivalry between their fathers and husbands continues as their children grow up and begin working in the company.
Caldwell provides vivid descriptions of the labor unrest and social turmoil of that time and shows how this affects her characters. Also, she's very deeply influenced by the McCarthyist ideology that existed when this book was published.
The next stage in the rivalry begins when Cornelia and Laura, the daughters of Rufus and Steve, marry very different men--Cornelia marries Allan Marshall, the son of Irish Catholic migrants, who's worked his way up from the rail yards to become a lawyer and inventor, while Laura marries Patrick Peale, a senator and the son of an important politician. The rivalry between their fathers and husbands continues as their children grow up and begin working in the company.
Caldwell provides vivid descriptions of the labor unrest and social turmoil of that time and shows how this affects her characters. Also, she's very deeply influenced by the McCarthyist ideology that existed when this book was published.
August 4, 2021
I learned a lot about the early railroad industry of the US, but had to bear with multiple generations of barely developed characters. Hint, we never do learn what was the significance of Cornelia tossing the medal into the air in the Prologue
February 2, 2018
like her ideas. have read all her books this is a reread
April 15, 2010
I seem to be drawn to this book - I've started it two or three times over the years, most recently about a month or so ago, and then set it aside again. Now that I've finished my re-read of TESTIMONY OF TWO MEN, this one seems to be calling to me again, so I've returned to it.
4/06: At 177 pages I'm well over 1/4 of the way into the novel - a decade or so has passed in the lives of Caldwell's characters and America, and the Panic of the 1870s has the railroad industry (among others) in its grasp. Engrossing, despite a slower pace than TESTIMONY OF TWO MEN.
4/15/10: Finished it late last night. The good thing about reading a long and engrossing novel is that you don't really have to worry about what to read next. This one probably went on a little longer than it should have. The last hundred or so pages covered a lot of ground time-frame wise, and I confess that I had trouble keeping the cast of characters straight by this point, sometimes even when they were all in the same scene together (in her novels Caldwell was very fond of marriage between cousins, and this novel does not include a family tree!).
The novel ends in 1935, with "the Silent Masters" setting the stage for World War Two. In some ways this novel is almost a companion-piece to CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS, which was published 18 years later and which also dealt with conspiracy-theories, another favorite Caldwell topic.
4/06: At 177 pages I'm well over 1/4 of the way into the novel - a decade or so has passed in the lives of Caldwell's characters and America, and the Panic of the 1870s has the railroad industry (among others) in its grasp. Engrossing, despite a slower pace than TESTIMONY OF TWO MEN.
4/15/10: Finished it late last night. The good thing about reading a long and engrossing novel is that you don't really have to worry about what to read next. This one probably went on a little longer than it should have. The last hundred or so pages covered a lot of ground time-frame wise, and I confess that I had trouble keeping the cast of characters straight by this point, sometimes even when they were all in the same scene together (in her novels Caldwell was very fond of marriage between cousins, and this novel does not include a family tree!).
The novel ends in 1935, with "the Silent Masters" setting the stage for World War Two. In some ways this novel is almost a companion-piece to CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS, which was published 18 years later and which also dealt with conspiracy-theories, another favorite Caldwell topic.
October 7, 2017
I have loved Taylor Caldwell for years, but have not read any of the many books I have by her until this one. I LOVED IT!!! If it were not for the dates included in the story, you would think you are reading about current times, politics especially. Some things never change. The story takes you through late 1800s and early 1900s. Building of monopolies in railroading. Discusses the early awareness of communism, marxism and socialism. Except for finding it hard to follow the many family members as they added marrriages, children and deaths, I love this book.
August 22, 2008
I like generation sagas - but sometimes theres too many people to remember, but in-depth character studies give you insight to what drives people.
September 8, 2012
Not an easy book to read but oh so interesting. Love this author!
April 1, 2014
I found the motivations and behavior of the characters unbelievable. Gave up after the first few chapters.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews