Suggested Readings: Capitalists

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
By Ron Chernow
ISBN: 0679438084

"Chernow labors mightily to set Standard's commercial accomplishments reasonably straight. He identifies correctly the factors that account for the early growth of the firm (entrepreneurship, economies of scale, technological innovation) and its ability to maintain market leadership. He also identifies correctly the changing market conditions at the turn of the century that eroded Standard's market share prior to the antitrust suits. Indeed, Chernow even admits that the subsequent legal actions may have been 'superfluous.'"
—D.T. Armentano, author of Antitrust and Monopoly: Anatomy of a Policy Failure

Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
By James Wallace and Jim Erickson
ISBN: 0-88730-629-2

"Wallace and Erickson have made this into an exciting tale, told in the racy style of American business journalism, with plenty of detail and well-researched quotations, all focused on the enigmatic personality of Bill Gates. . . . And if one should ask: 'What shall it profit a man that he should gain the whole world. . . ?' the answer is that Gates's [wealth] represents, not just his winnings, but an important contribution to one of the great revolutions in human history." -Max Wilkinson, Financial Times

The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
By Burton W. Folsom, Jr.
ISBN: 0-9630203-0-7

"Folsom, with more clarity than any of the revisionists who have gone before him, has separated the great competitors from the monopolists who depended primarily on State favors. There were 'political entrepreneurs' and 'market entrepreneurs,' and the dividing lines in retrospect are relatively clear." -John Chamberlain, author of The Enterprising Americans

In Defense of the Corporation
By Robert Hessen
ISBN 0-8179-7071-1

"Hessen's achievement is to have unearthed the essence of the modern American corporation, from beneath many layers of intellectual graffiti. He skillfully shows that corporations are based on voluntary association-the same principle which distinguishes other institutions of a free society. And he has demolished the idea that corporations are 'creatures of the state.'" -Paul Seabury, professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley