Summary
Summary of The Driver
The Driver at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 4 h 35 min3 h 35 min fast, 5 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 65,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1922by Garet Garrett
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Laughter hides a fear about work
Jacob Coxey and Carl Browne lead a ragged march toward Washington, calling for Congress to create money and put unemployed men to work building roads. Reporters follow what looks like a traveling joke, but the men's lives reveal something more serious: paid work is scarce, and nobody agrees on what money should do.
The narrator begins sending confidential reports to railroad president John J. Valentine. His new connection draws him from a public protest into the private world of railroad power.
Key idea 2
Galt sees wealth where others despair
On a ferry, the narrator meets a small, irritable stranger who asks whether the marchers had enough to eat.
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Key idea 3
A railroad dream risks the household
At Galt's home, the narrator discovers both the warmth of a family and the strain beneath it.
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Key idea 4
Collapse creates an opening for belief
Arguments over silver and gold fill a country where banks hold idle money and men remain without work.
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Key idea 5
The driver takes the boardroom
Galt works through the railroad's accounts, uncovers dormant assets, and travels the line himself.
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Key idea 6
Money cannot make a family welcome
The struggle with Valentine reaches beyond the railroad.
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Key idea 7
Growing power draws enemies together
As the Great Midwestern gains control of other railroads and resources, Galt's authority begins to resemble a monarch's.
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Key idea 8
Belief and power carry personal costs
Galt's force of will raises a question larger than the railroad: can a country live with one man steering it?
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Key idea 9
One person's conviction can reshape institutions
Galt's story centers on a striking habit: he buys what others abandon and builds while others fear.
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Who it’s for
For readers who love tales of ambition, from a self-made tycoon's rise to Wall Street drama. It also rewards anyone curious about railroads, money, and the families beside great fortunes.
What this book is
It is Easter Sunday in 1894, and a whole Ohio village has come out to laugh. A man on a white horse and a man in a buggy, each claiming to be Christ come again, lead about a hundred ragged men toward Washington. Behind them trails a crowd of reporters, and one of them will take a confidential reporting job for a railroad president.
The Driver is a novel by Garet Garrett, a journalist who wrote about money, business and politics. It follows Henry M. Galt, a small, restless speculator who seizes a bankrupt railroad and builds it into a system that spans the continent. You get boardrooms, panics, and a family that cannot enjoy its fortune.
In this summary
- 1Laughter hides a fear about workFree
- 2Galt sees wealth where others despair
- 3A railroad dream risks the household
- 4Collapse creates an opening for belief
- 5The driver takes the boardroom
- 6Money cannot make a family welcome
- 7Growing power draws enemies together
- 8Belief and power carry personal costs
- 9One person's conviction can reshape institutions
A crusade of tramps marches on Washington
The book opens with a parade that is half circus and half prayer. Jacob Coxey and Carl Browne lead the Army of the Commonweal of Christ out of Massillon, Ohio. Coxey hopes delayed marchers will join him, yet barely a hundred follow. Coxey's plan is simple. Congress should create money and hire the unemployed to build roads.
The narrator is one of forty-three correspondents trailing the march. That night the reporters argue over what it means. A pale agitator says money no longer serves people and people now serve money. The others shout him down, yet none of them loves Wall Street. Next morning the narrator takes a side job, sending confidential daily reports to John J. Valentine, president of the Great Midwestern Railroad.
The marchers prove to be honest men who average twelve paid workdays a year. The Army ends in arrests on the Capitol lawn, and the laughter covers a real fear about work. A joke that spreads across a country is often a question the country cannot yet answer.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
What most clearly separates Galt's outlook from Valentine's during hard times?
Right. “Valentine sees doom in hard times, while Galt sees a rich country that has lost its nerve.”Not quite. “Valentine sees doom in hard times, while Galt sees a rich country that has lost its nerve.”
How does Galt propose financing the railroad without an assessment on stockholders?
Right. “Galt's plan says stockholders need not pay an assessment, because new securities can be sold against dormant assets.”Not quite. “Galt's plan says stockholders need not pay an assessment, because new securities can be sold against dormant assets.”
What does Gram'ma's nightly question about stock prices help reveal?
Right. “A third thread is the family's cost, captured by Gram'ma's nightly question about the stock price.”Not quite. “A third thread is the family's cost, captured by Gram'ma's nightly question about the stock price.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Driver
About 4 h 40 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 65,100 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 35 min
Questions about The Driver
What is The Driver by Garet Garrett about?
It tells how Henry M. Galt, a small Wall Street speculator, takes over a bankrupt railroad, rebuilds it and grows it into a continental system. His secretary Coxey narrates, watching boardroom fights, panics and the strain on Galt's family.
Who is Coxey in The Driver?
Coxey is the narrator's nickname, given by Galt. He is a young newspaper reporter who follows Coxey's Army of unemployed marchers in 1894, then becomes Valentine's private secretary and later Galt's closest aide and friend.
What does the title The Driver mean?
It comes from Galt's own words when a traffic manager asks who he is. He says he is the driver, meaning the one who steers the railroad, sets its pace and takes control of its direction.
Is The Driver a true story?
It is a novel, though it uses real events of the 1890s such as Coxey's Army, the gold and silver quarrel and the panic of 1893. Galt and his rivals are fictional figures built from the age's financiers.
Is The Driver worth reading today?
Yes, if you like lively business drama. Its scenes are vivid, from a muddy Easter march to a board meeting and a Washington hearing, and its questions about belief, markets and power still feel current.
Cite this edition
Garrett, Garet. The Driver. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-driver.
Garrett, G. (2026). The driver. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-driver (Original work published 1922)
Garrett, Garet. The Driver. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-driver.
@book{garrett2026driver,
author = {Garrett, Garet},
title = {The Driver},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-driver},
note = {First published 1922}
}
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