How did Glasgow become the great City that it is today? Who made it possible for the Clyde to become such an important centre of shipbuilding and trade? This is the previously untold story of George Reith, one volatile, often bad-tempered and always bossy man who had the vision in the 19th century to transform Glasgow's potential to become a great city of the Empire. In absorbing style, we are told the story of the great but unheralded Scot who created the means for large ships to be constructed on the Clyde and to reach Glasgow from the Atlantic - making Glasgow a city of enormous worldwide importance; who improved Glasgow's health; introduced new forms of engineering construction and played a key role in the development of Clydebank. This is the incredible life of a man who rose from a humble farmstead to shape a river, a city and a nation.