Customer Reviews

Monopolies in America : Empire Builders and Their Enemies from Jay Gould to Bill Gates

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In Monopolies In America, Charles R. Geisst gives a fair overview of US antitrust issues from a historical point of view. Readers who are not familiar at all with the development, interpretation, and application of antitrust are introduced to the ambivalence about bigness in American thought over time. However, Monopolies In America is not an easy read because of a lack of coherence in the narration. Only a well-informed audience cognizant of the legal, economic, and social ramifications of antitrust can easily surf through the book and fully grasp the conflicting forces coming into play. Furthermore, Monopolies In America is a misnomer. Antitrust (law) issues cover a lot more than abuse of monopoly position. The Antitrust Paradox. A Policy At War With Itself by Judge Robert H. Bork is the definitive authority on the subject. His account is both comprehensive and scathing about the shared sub-optimal performance of the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of power as well as the practicing bar in making, interpreting, and applying antitrust rules. Judge Bork rightly attributes that shared sub-optimal performance to the too-often absence of a rudimentary understanding of market economics among the above-mentioned players.

This book taught me more about the topic than anything else I ever read. It is well written and very informative and doesn't use any jargon. This is a very ideological topic but the book avoids that trap and informs. It doesn't preach to the reader. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the topic.

Geisst has written a valuable study that puts the topic into great perspective. The topic is diverse and dominated by lawyers but this treatment is well written and entertaining as well as being highly informative. Highly recommended.

While Mr. Geisst provides some interesting tidbits in the history of antitrust law, he fails to provide a coherent narrative of this important subject.