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The more things change . . .
At the turn of the century, business leaders were giddy with plans to exploit exciting new technologies. Innovative products and processes were changing commerce irrevocably. Monopolies and near-monopolies held sway over important segments of the economy. The entire world financial system looked to one man for guidance. The year was 1900. It was the era of new achievements in transportation, of oil and railroad monopolies, of J.P. Morgan's primacy in financial circles. Or was it 2000, in the era of the Internet revolution, the Microsoft monopoly, and Alan Greenspan as the presiding genius of world finance? Several recently published works of business history show, in different ways, how much has changed about the way the world goes to work -- and how much remains the same. |
REVIEWS BY E. THOMAS WOOD
The Great Game's rich store of anecdotes offers up such indelible images as 50-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt whipping New York's toughest boxer in a street brawl, General Motors founder William C. Durant ending his days as manager of a bowling alley, and a seat on the New York Stock Exchange selling for only two and a half times the price of a New York City taxicab medallion in the depths of the mid-1970s bear market. Gray flannel suits don't have to equal boredom, and Gordon tells his story in such a brisk and lively fashion that even the most casual reader will find it hard to put down.
The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, 1653-2000 By John Steele Gordon Scribner, $25 ISBN 0684832879
A century ago, the British and French wings of the Rothschild family controlled the world's largest bank, a Europe-wide railroad network, worldwide mining interests, and some of the world's most fabulous homes and art collections. The bankers' prominence made them intimates of world leaders such as Winston Churchill and enemies of anti-Semites (from the left to the right of the political spectrum) who vented their envy and hatred at the "Jewish conspiracy" through which the Rothschilds supposedly wielded secret control over governments and financial systems. The family survived the tumultuous century, only to see its significance in world banking circles diminish as megabanks came to dominate the financial landscape. A tale of decline can be just as compelling as a tale of ascent, and Ferguson proves that point in this book.
The World's Banker, 1849-1999 By Niall Ferguson Viking, $34.95 ISBN 0670887943
Frederick Winslow Taylor had big ideas about reforming the way steel was made in the late 19th century, and some were good ideas. But others displayed a contempt for employees' basic humanity that would influence generations of nightmare bosses in the century to come. American enterprises are still trying to undo Taylor's damage. Then there's Robert McNamara. Whatever the inverse of the Presidential Medal of Freedom might be, McNamara earned it by the damage his misguided approaches caused in not one, but two, major institutions: Ford Motor Co. and the U.S. Department of Defense. Can you blame one man for the exploding Ford Pinto and the Vietnam War? Not entirely, but Gabor shows how McNamara's obsession with bean-counting contributed to each of those disasters. The author carefully analyzes the positive and negative impacts of these and other business thinkers whose big ideas continue to resonate in corporate life. Though much ink has been spilled about individuals like Peter Drucker, W. Edwards Deming, and Herbert Simon, Gabor contributes important insights about the lasting significance of their work.
The Geniuses of Modern Business -- Their Lives, Times, and Ideas By Andrea Gabor Times Business, $25.95 ISBN 0812928202
There is much in the history of American enterprise that nobody remembers fondly, from the Panic of 1873, to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, to the Edsel. But one relic has largely passed from the financial scene without the nostalgia it merits: the stock certificate. Journalist Bob Tamarkin, editor Les Krantz, and collectibles dealer George LaBarre offer this dying art form a gracious send-off in The Art of the Market: Two Centuries of American Business as Seen Through Its Stock Certificates. It's still possible to get a certificate when you buy shares of stock these days, but there's little reason to bother. It will just be a redundant printout of information that resides on a computer somewhere. In the old days, companies were less efficient, but they had style. This beautiful coffee-table book showcases the elaborately engraved documents, signed in fountain pen ink by the likes of J. Paul Getty and Thomas Edison, that companies once used to project their corporate images to the investing public. For the American Express Co. in 1854, an illustration of a chugging locomotive took center stage on the certificate; a century or so later, shares of Playboy Enterprises Inc. were engraved with a reclining nude. The purpose of each image was the same: to make the shareholder feel good about the company. Today's corporations can accomplish this goal more effectively on the Internet, but you'll never find a book this handsome about the masterful Web sites of yore.
Two Centuries of American Business as Seen Through Its Stock Certificates By Bob Tamarkin, Les Krantz, and George LaBarre Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $35 ISBN 1556709382
The Art of the Market is not the only turn-of-the-century commemoration of American business milestones. Other books offering a "big-picture" (literally) review of commercial history include The New York Times Century of Business by Floyd Norris and Christine Bockelmann and 100 Years of Wall Street by Charles R. Geisst. Century of Business is as much a journalistic artifact as a business history; its reprinted Times articles on key business developments from decades past all hold up quite well to the scrutiny of hindsight. 100 Years of Wall Street masterfully tells the Street's story in archival photos and Geisst's very readable text. Look for all three of these appealing picture books in the lobby of a broker near you.
By Floyd Norris and Christine Bockelmann McGraw-Hill, $29.95 ISBN 0071355898
100 Years of Wall Street
Say you want a re$olution? In lieu of our usual assortment of "briefly noted" titles, here are several new books that can help you make good on that New Millennium's resolution to get your money matters into good shape. It's a hopeful sign for our society: The publication of not one, but two, new books advising African Americans on how to make the most of their rising prosperity. The titles are Investing in the Dream: Personal Wealth-Building Strategies for African-Americans in Search of Financial Freedom by investment advisor Jesse B. Brown and It's About the Money! by The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and his son, Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. with Mary Gotschall. Each book offers sound advice on building wealth one step at a time, and each one addresses cultural contexts that affect how African Americans view money issues, individually and within families.
Personal Wealth-Building Strategies for African-Americans in Search of Financial Freedom By Jesse B. Brown Hyperion, $23.95 ISBN 0786864621
It's About the Money!
By Ted Miller Kiplinger Books, $27.95 ISBN 0938721682
Carolyn Janik expands on one of Miller's topics in Making Money in Real Estate: How to Build Financial Independence with Residential and Commercial Property, a solid primer with a clear explanation of a daunting subject.
How to Build Financial Independence with Residential and Commercial Property By Carolyn Janik Kiplinger Books, $27.95 ISBN 0938721690
And there's more. Financial planning "coach" Jerry Mason starts with the basics and puts readers through their financial paces in Financial Fitness for Life. Mason's lucid coverage of key topics and lively presentation of what could be intimidating content make this an excellent wedding or graduation gift. Smart Money Moves: Mutual Fund Investing from Scratch is another good guide for investors who are just getting started in the market. Author James Lowell combines time-tested advice about long-term investing with an up-to-date look at the state of the ever-evolving mutual fund marketplace.
By Jerry Mason Dearborn, $17.95 ISBN 0793133610
Smart Money Moves:
Journalist E. Thomas Wood is an editor with the Champs-Elysees.com family of European language-and-culture products.
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John Steele Gordon cements his reputation as America's foremost business historian with The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, 1653-2000. Gordon's last book, Hamilton's Blessing, turned the neat trick of making the national debt a sexy topic of conversation. Now the author brings to life three and a half centuries of drama and comedy that have made a few blocks at the lower tip of Manhattan Island the most important -- and self-important -- monetary territory on earth.
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The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker, 1849-1999 is Oxford don Niall Ferguson's sequel to the well-received 1998 book The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets, 1798-1848 (recently issued in paperback by Penguin Books). Getting a powerful family with a long history of profound financial influence to cooperate in a history while maintaining independence is no easy feat, and Ferguson deserves a great deal of credit for pulling it off. Having gained unprecedented access to archival information about Europe's legendary banking clan, he synthesizes his material with admirable clarity, given that the story line includes central banking crises and other complex financial situations.
In The Capitalist Philosophers: The Geniuses of Modern Business -- Their Lives, Times, and Ideas, author Andrea Gabor alternately celebrates and cuts down to size the figures who have shaped the American workplace as we know it today -- in all its vibrant productivity and all its mind-numbing Dilbertitude. From both the best and the worst of the management theorists profiled here, we re-learn the timeless lesson that ideas have consequences.
Ted Miller, editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, weighs in with Kiplinger's Practical Guide to Investing, a no-nonsense tour of credible investment options in an era full of overhyped nonsense about day trading and other get-rich-quick schemes.