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In this incisive and comprehensive history, business historian Charles Geisst traces the rise of monopolies from the railroad era to today's computer software empires. The history of monopolies has been dominated by strong and charismatic personalities. Geisst tells the stories behind the ...

In this incisive and comprehensive history, business historian Charles Geisst traces the rise of monopolies from the railroad era to today's computer software empires. The history of monopolies has been dominated by strong and charismatic personalities. Geisst tells the stories behind the individuals--from John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie to Harold Geneen and Bill Gates--who forged these business empires with genius, luck, and an often ruthless disregard for fair competition. He also analyzes the viewpoints of their equally colorful critics, from Louis Brandeis to Ralph Nader. These figures enliven the narrative, offering insight into how large businesses accumulate power. Viewed as either godsends or pariahs, monopolies have sparked endless debate and often conflicting responses from Washington. Monopolies in America surveys the important pieces of legislation and judicial rulings that have emerged since the post-Civil War era, and proposes that American antitrust activity has had less to do with hard economics than with political opinion. What was considered a monopoly in 1911 when Standard Oil and American Tobacco were broken up was not applied again when the Supreme Court refused to dismantle U.S. Steel in 1919. Charting the growth of big business in the United States, Geisst reaches the startling conclusion that the mega-mergers that have dominated Wall Street headlines for the past fifteen years are not simply a trend, but a natural consequence of American capitalism. Intelligent and informative, Monopolies in America skillfully chronicles the course of American big business, and allows us to see how the debate on monopolies will be shaped in the twentieth-first century.

The theories of finance capital, as developed by Rudolf Hilferding, and monopoly capital form the underlying concepts in current explanations of how capitalism works today. This book presents a critical examination of these theories by focusing on the concepts of competition, credit, and economic ...

The theories of finance capital, as developed by Rudolf Hilferding, and monopoly capital form the underlying concepts in current explanations of how capitalism works today. This book presents a critical examination of these theories by focusing on the concepts of competition, credit, and economic crises. Zoninsein accepts Hilferding's central elements, but seeks to refine and reinterpret the concepts and procedures in light of the current changes in economic thought and social life. Particular attention is paid to the sharp contrasts that are exhibited between Hilferding's work and the economic theories of Marx.

The orthodox view is that the democracies of the western world have become increasingly secular over the twentieth century. Fewer and fewer people have chosen to believe, and the church has declined markedly as religion has changed from being part of an identity ascribed at birth to being a matter ...

The orthodox view is that the democracies of the western world have become increasingly secular over the twentieth century. Fewer and fewer people have chosen to believe, and the church has declined markedly as religion has changed from being part of an identity ascribed at birth to being a matter of personal choice. Choice and Religion provides a detailed critique of the 'rational choice' approach to religion to demonstrate that industrialisation has secularised the western world and that diversity, far from making religion more popular by allowing individuals to maximize their returns, undermines it. The claim that diversity and competition promote religion is refuted with evidence from a wide variety of western societies. Bruce examine the Nordic countries and the ex-communist states of eastern Europe to explore the consequences of different sorts of state regulation, and to show that ethnicity is a more powerful determinate of religious change than market structures. Where religion matters, it is not because individuals are maximising their returns, it is because it defines group identity and is heavily implicated in social conflict.