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Title: The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business by Alfred Dupont Chandler ISBN: 0-674-94052-0 Publisher: Belknap Pr Pub. Date: January, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.65

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Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (3 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: Good information, but not too "edge of your seat" reading
Comment: This is basically the business history of the United States (in fact, I read this book for a class entitled that). It traces the story of how the visible hand of management in business replaced what Adam Smith called the invisible hand of market forces. The content is very in depth and only the most serious economic historian would find this a good book to read.

The book is divided into the following sections:

--The traditional processes of production and distribution (plantations, textile mills, factories, etc.)

--The revolution in transportation and communication

--The revolution in distribution and production

--The integration of mass production with mass distribution

--The management and growth of the modern industrial enterprise

It should be noted that Alfred Chandler, Jr. won the Pulitzer and Bancroft awards for this book.

Rating: 2
Summary: Content good, presentation bad
Comment: Alfred Dupont Chandler, take note: in writing this review, I shall be BRIEF. Frankly, this book is a much better skimmed than read. The basic style of Chandler's prose:

Broad topic sentence. Fact 1. Statistic A. Fact 2. Fact 3. Statistic B. Fact 4. Statistics C-G. Fact 5. Statistic H.

In short, only for the bravest of historians, and even then, one with a lot of time on his or her hands.

Rating: 5
Summary: Most interesting book on America and how it works I've read
Comment: Chandler give a fascinating review of America's physical history, with emphasis on the development of the coal, railroad, steel, and telegraph industries in making the transportation and communication revolutions possible. The birth of this infrastructure made the rise of mass production and mass marketing possible. The most interesting changes which resulted were in the evolution of the managerial structure and science which became necessary, and which in turn made the transformation of our world possible. "Big business" became not only possible, but essential. That this was an evil system driven by greed is a myth. The book gives detailed descriptions of the birth and growth of many large companies including the big railroads, US Steel, Standard Oil, Singer, MacCormack, DuPont, etc. It is a fascinating narrative.

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