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Title: The Business of America: Tales from the Marketplace--American Enterprise from the Settling Fo New England to the Breakup of At&T by John Steele Gordon ISBN: 0-8027-7635-3 Publisher: Walker & Co Pub. Date: June, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Economic history is educational and interesting
Comment: Ten years' worth of writing, these forty-seven essays capture illumuniating anecdotes about economic history, captured in the stories of people, ideas and moments in time. Booms and depressions, clever inventions and failed plans, tough competitors and grandoise government schemes all receive their due.
There is the story of King Cotton and how the gin made it profitable. Gordon reports on the California Gold Rush, the first television syndication (that's how Desi Arnaz earns a cover picture on an economic history book), war economies, the decision to build the World Trade towers (an eerie story to read today), steamboat races, railroad competition and more, each in pithy, five-page synopses of major historic studies or records. Brief as they are, there is not always a full story, but the histories leave the read impressed and engaged.
Gordon highlights well-known phrases, e.g., "The business of America is business," "The public be damned!" and explains how they came about (and the myths around same). Before we spoke of people "going postal", Gordon writes about the now-lapsed term, "postalization", another idea entirely.
In "The American Game" he shows how baseball is unique in that it was a business and not just a sport from its early years. A strange business, yes, where today "semiserfdom" of ballplayers has produced average annual salaries of $2.38 million and an industry prone to "work stoppages" and seemingly on the brink of disaster.
The better stories are of the visionaries who made and managed business in America, including the man who spent his personal fortune to make milk safe to drink for millions and the unsung heroes who saved businesses from failure. This is a good education for those who don't understand or who doubt the power of free markets, an idea whose time has come, or simply the American dream as it has been lived.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent prose and great examples of U.S. Econommic history
Comment: I rank this book as a solid four star book. I didn't rank the book with a five star rating because it didn't cause me to have a "paradigm shift" or see the world from a different perspective. However, those interested in American History or economic history should thoroughly enjoy this book. I loved reading the book because Mr. Gordon's work clearly shows his in-depth knowledge of American history and his excellent storytelling capabilities.
These 47 articles, gathered from Gordon's 10 years as an American Heritage columnist, cover the post-Revolutionary period through the 1950s. Each article is written, as the title portrays, from an American perspective. Mr. Gordon talks, for example, about the railroads and the characters behind them in the American boom but rarely does he specifically address who invented a product / technology, unless an American did. Additionally, I found that little attention was given to air conditioning, as it has impacted migration patterns dramatically in the U.S.
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Rating: 5
Summary: Deserves 10 Stars
Comment: I so enjoyed this book I didn't want it to end. Please, Mr. Gordon, write another. My normal read is gory mystery thrillers, so this was quite a departure. I saw Mr. Gordon on C-Span and thought "The Business Of America" might be interesting. This book went far beyond interesting; it made the history of dull finance be as exciting as my normal gory thrillers!
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Title: The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653-2000 by John Steele Gordon ISBN: 0743200438 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 09 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt by John Steele Gordon ISBN: 0140270159 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: A Thread Across the Ocean : The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable by John Steele Gordon ISBN: 0060524464 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Wall Street: A History by Charles R. Geisst ISBN: 0195130863 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Frozen-Water Trade: A True Story by Gavin Weightman ISBN: 078686740X Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 08 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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