The modern American economy was the creation of four men: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan. They were the giants of the Gilded Age, a moment of riotous growth that established America as the richest, most inventive, and most productive country on the planet.
Acclaimed author Charles R. Morris vividly brings these men and their times to life. The ruthlessly competitive Carnegie, the imperial Rockefeller, and the provocateur Gould were obsessed with progress, experiment, and speed. They were balanced by Morgan, the gentleman businessman, who fought, instead, for a global trust in American business. Through their antagonism and verve, they built an industrial behemoth—and a country of middle-class consumers. The Tycoons tells the incredible story of how these four determined men wrenched the economy into the modern age, inventing a nation of full economic participation that could not have been imagined only a few decades earlier.
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“Morris profiles the four big ‘robber
barons’ of post-Civil War America…Although all four would probably have
excelled in any era, it was the machine age, the move from an agricultural to a
manufacturing society, and the concurrent rise of mass consumption, that
created an environment for their megasuccess. Morris shows how the
inventiveness and spirit of the American worker in the later 1800s led to a
surge of growth that had the United States roaring past Great Britain to become the
world’s top producer. ‘Scientific management’ of factories created interchangeable
parts and assembly lines, bringing branded foods and labor-saving home
appliances to the people. Morris brings home how the rapid expansion produced a
‘supply shock’ that overshadows any so-called paradigm shift that we may be
experiencing today.”
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Booklist