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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Who, What, When, How, and Why of U.S. Free Enterprise, November 27, 2009
This review is from: The Story of American Business: From the Pages of the New York Times (Hardcover)
Credit Nancy Koehn with skillfully selecting, organizing, and then editing a wealth of material that originally appeared in The New York Times from May 11, 1869 ("East and West," an account by an unnamed correspondent of the celebration at Promontory Point when the railway first connected New York and California) until September 28, 2008 ("The Richest Man and How He Grew That Way," Janet Maslin's review of Alice Schroeder's biography of Warren Buffett). The material is carefully organized according to three major themes: the corporation, American business and the changing nature of work, and the defining moments in technology. As Koehn suggests, "Taken together, these aspects provide us a kind of wide-angle lens on some - though by no means all - of the most important individuals and events that shaped American business history and that, in turn, did so much to give form to our own time and our possibilities in it."
I especially appreciate the timelines that are inserted strategically throughout the narrative. They help to create a frame-of-reference for the profiles, as well as analyses of trends and significant events, briefings on historical periods, book reviews, end-of-year summary evaluations, and speeches such as the one delivered by Theodore Roosevelt in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on August 21, 1907, during which he shares his thoughts about the politics of his administration with regard to trusts. He also praises Puritan ancestors who "tamed the wilderness, and built up a free government on the stump-dotted clearings, amidst the primeval forest." The variety of subjects correctly suggests the scope and depth of what Koehn refers to as "the most important individuals and events that shaped American business history and that, in turn, did so much to give form to our own time and our possibilities in it."
Most readers will check out the Contents and then select articles of special interest to them. Others may prefer to proceed through one section to the next. Whatever the approach, the reading experience shares much in common with a situation in which a person begins to clear out an attic, cellar, garage or storage area and finds several boxes filled with clippings of articles from The New York Times. Some are about the rise of big business, the emergence of Wall Street, "merger mania," major business leaders; other articles examine the changing nature of work such as the movement from farm to country and the emergence of labor unions; still others examine the "transportation revolution"(e.g. railroad, automobile, and commercial flight) and communication breakthroughs such as radio, television, and the Internet. There are at least some photographs such as one of a Northern Pacific locomotive in 1900 and another in which Henry Ford sits in his car next to a horse and buggy in 1933. However, the bulk of the material consists of narrative text.
The specific entries that caught my eye include (listed in the order in which they appear in the book): "Uncle Sam Now Business World's Business Man" (November 19, 1882), "Ladies as Stock Speculators" (February 3, 1880), "J.P. Morgan At Seventy, Believes in Keeping At It" (April 14, 1907), "Roosevelt Won't Drop Trust War" (August 21, 1907), "The Peril Behind the Takeover Boom" (December 29, 1985), "Millionaires of Pittsburg - Twenty Years Ago and Now" (June 2, 1907), "Talking Business with Grove of Intel" (December 23, 1980), "`Neutron Jack' Exits" (September 9, 2001), "Penned in Factories and No Fire Escapes" (October 12, 1911), he New Boss" (January 30, 2005), "The Wonders of Electricity" (April 4, 1998), "How We Spend Our Time" (April 24, 1937), "Honey, I am Not Home" (May 11, 1997), "Southwest Manages to Keep Its Balance" (September 25, 2001), "Television Effects on Families Shown" (February 5, 1950), and "Mapping Out the Wireless Phone's Future"( November 12, 1992). I have included the dates of these entries because many of those who are curious about this book share my interest in articles that reveal what the interests, concerns, issues, etc. were at a given time. Much of what happened a 100 years ago today (i.e. November 27, 2009) was "news fit to print" that day so it has an historical significance. In some instances, the same account also suggests a specific stage of development or an emerging trend...or both...as in "Women Who Work Increase in Numbers and Influence" written by R.L. Duffus that appeared in the September 14, 1930, issue and "New Southerner: The Middle-Class Negro" co-authored by Wilma Dykeman an James Stokely that appeared in the August 9, 1959, issue.
Congratulations to Nancy F. Koehn on a brilliant achievement!
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Art Kleiner's The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management, Stewart H. Holbrook's The Age of the Moguls: The Story of the Robber Barons and the Great Tycoons, The World of Business compiled by The Economist, The Story of American Business edited by Nancy Koehn, and In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century co-authored by Anthony J. May and Nitin Nohria as well as Paths to Power: How Insiders and Outsiders Shaped American Business Leadership co-authored by May, Nohria, and Laura G. Singleton.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Viewing history as others had to view it... "as it happens", October 30, 2009
This review is from: The Story of American Business: From the Pages of the New York Times (Hardcover)
One of my pet peeves about history is that we often look back at an event with a "sanitized" view of it. There's no mention of dissent, effort, conflict, or personality. The event happened, it turned out the way it did, and look how it shaped history. But it's only when we start digging into the day-to-day dialogue during the event that we find what it was really like to go through it. That's why I like this book I received from Harvard Business Press: The Story of American Business: From the Pages of the New York Times edited by Nancy F. Koehn. Koehn takes a number of business eras and looks at them through the lens of the New York Times while the events were still fresh. As such, you see that all things were not obvious at the time, and only in hindsight can we really "predict" how things would play out.
Contents:
Part 1 - The Corporation: The Rise of Big Business; Wall Street - Its Origins, Influence, and Evolution; Merger Mania; Leadership, Past and Present
Part 2 - The Changing Nature of Work: From Farm to Factory; The Fruits of Our Labor; The Changing Workplace
Part 3 - Defining Moments in Technology: The Transportation Revolution; Communications
Epilogue; Appendix; Notes; Index; About the Author
Each chapter starts out with a brief (7 to 10 page) overview of the topic, spanning the 1800's through the present. There's also a high-level timeline that picks out a few key moments, and that's supplemented by a more detailed timeline in the Appendix. From then on, the chapter is a series of articles as printed in the New York Times, from the mid-1800's to the current decade. It's there that I found the most insight and detail as to what it must have been like to deal with change and turmoil. The 1882 article titled "The Great Oil Monopoly" covers how the Standard Oil Company "robs" the public... sound familiar to today? Have we learned much in 130 years? 1909 has an article titled "What Is To Be Done With the Trusts?", going into how government wants to implement anti-trust laws... things we take for granted now, but that were extremely controversial back then. 1930 has an article titled "Shift from Farm to City Goes Steadily On", where it's feared that the contemplative life will not go well with the tempo of the modern city. And to show how fast some things change, there's a 1969 article titled "Bank Cards Thrive As Some Say No", where large retailers like Macy's, Gimbels, and Bloomingdale's refuse to take the increasingly popular "plastic credit cards" as they deem it competition to their own credit policies. Guess we know how THAT one turned out...
One day our current economic crisis will be reduced to 2000 words in a history book, and it will "obvious" how things worked out. The government policies will be lauded or derided as being enlightened or destructive. But right now, there are a thousand opinions, just as many predictions, and emotions are real and often painful in terms of how it all will play out. A book like The Story of American Business helps remind me that every era has gone through this, no one has all the answers, and you don't get to know the ending beforehand.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publisher
Payment: Free
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All the Business News Fit to Print, December 4, 2009
This review is from: The Story of American Business: From the Pages of the New York Times (Hardcover)
For anyone fascinated with the history of American business over the past century and a half, Nancy Koehn has done a superb job of editing some of the more significantly compelling stories that appeared in the pages of the New York Times, from the mid 1800s to the present. The result is a detailed look behind the people and events that shaped corporate America, for better or worse over the years, with the classic New York Times reporting prowess.
Indeed, as a publication that proclaims its journalistic endeavors as covering "all the news that's fit to print", we get an interesting perspective on the top business stories from yesteryear or yesterday; in the processs, we come to see our progress, or lack thereof, in the business of business.
For anyone lamenting the current state of affairs in corporate America, this is a terrific resource to peruse. Some of the stories from only a decade ago seem so antiquated, while others from over a century ago still cover issues that are remarkably relevent today. Even taken from a context of sheer entertainment, this compilation is a marvelous journey into American business---its wonderful accomplishments or its strange follies---and it could perhaps shed some light on ways to recover from our recent economic travails.
By learning from our mistakes, we may be able to avoid similar actions going forward. Certainly, the information is now right at our fingertips, in a nicely edited format; a must read for any student of business and economics.
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