American Colossus

August 16, 2010
In this timely study, University of Texas historian Brands (Traitor to His Class) describes the rise of the great corporate capitalists after the Civil War. J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie constituted an trinity of power-obsessed individuals who instinctively understood that wealth was the ultimate political weapon. They defined the cold-blooded authority of big business. Fascinating detours away from the tale of corporate empires examine the Reconstruction process in the South, the Indian Wars of the West, the opening of the Great Plains, immigration in the East, and the rise of organized labor and the agrarian reformers. Effectively, excerpts from the first-person accounts of Booker T. Washington, Black Elk, Jacob Riis, and others convey the drama of the time. Perhaps the only significant omission in this fast-paced, engrossing narrative is a tendency to dwell on political doctrines that sought to repudiate or restrain capitalism while only briefly discussing the dogma of Herbert Spencer's social Darwinism, which favored the monopolists.

August 1, 2010

A loosely themed survey of 35 years of American history.

Eminent historian Brands (History/Univ. of Texas; American Dreams: The United States Since 1945, 2010, etc.) elucidates the tension between the U.S. brand of democracy and its version of capitalism through anecdotes starring politicians, diplomats, judges, union leaders and corporate tycoons, with an emphasis on the tycoons. He singles out Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller as deserving special attention because of their dominance over vital industries and their unprecedented personal wealth. The narrative is organized somewhat chronologically from the end of the Civil War to the early years of the 20th century, emphasizing corporate growth, geographical expansion, increasing urbanism, government intervention and various forms of inequality. Within each section, Brands does not always provide smooth transitions. For example, he jumps from the U.S. government's purchase of Alaska to the rise of Social Darwinism among American intellectuals without overtly signifying why one follows the other. Further, the author relies too heavily on previous histories and biographies, including some of his own. The recurring theme of the tension between capitalism and democracy is most stark in Brands' coverage of U.S. expansion beyond natural boundaries. For example, the capture of the Philippines by American troops could have set the stage for colonial endeavors on every continent. It did not, however, because colonialism nagged at the consciences of many Americans, who believed that democracy should be about a population's self-determination, not about imposing foreign domination on behalf of capitalists lining their bank accounts. After the capture of the Philippines, never again would the United States seek to own another nation.

An educational, briskly written pseudo-textbook aimed at readers outside university classrooms.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 15, 2010

Brands (Dickson Allen Anderson Professor of History, Univ. of Texas-Austin; Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) here argues that the capitalist revolution of the mid- to late 19th century was perhaps the best thing that could happen to the American people, albeit at a cost. Individuals such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, J. Pierpont Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller provided the means to win the Civil War, bind the nation together with railroads, begin larger-scale agriculture in the plains, increase industrial production, and enlarge the country's population through massive immigration from both Europe and Asia. Brands also shows that American capitalism corrupted local, state, and federal government, built a financial system that swung between boom and bust, drastically reduced the Native American population, and established Jim Crow segregation in the South, while also creating a working environment that brought forth the union and populist movements. VERDICT Although this is a familiar story, the author's focus on how the business climate affected the rest of society provides a distinctive perspective on the era. His work, drawn from secondary sources, is a good, solid contribution for undergraduates and other readers interested in the Gilded Age.--Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Lib., Parkersburg

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.