The Robber Barons [Paperback]

Matthew Josephson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 1962 | Series: Harvest Book

Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Harriman, Gould, Frick...this is the story of the giant american capitalists who seized economic power after the Civil War and altered the shape of american life forever. Index.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matthew Josephson (1899-1978) received a Guggenheim fellowship and was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He is the author of, among other books, Al Smith: Hero of the Cities, winner of the Van Wyck Brooks prize for biography and history.

Product Details

• Paperback: 492 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (January 24, 1962)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156767902
• ISBN-13: 978-0156767903
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 95 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Two Histories for the Price of One January 29, 2002

By Peter A. Greene VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

If you're going to write history, the best thing to do is be objective and balanced. But if you can't do that, the second best thing is to broadcast your bias loud and clear.

By going the second route, this book provides not only a historical account of the robber barons, but a pretty clear picture of the Marxist perspective on them in 1934.

It's interesting at times to watch Josephson struggle for balance. On the one hand, he seems to almost admire the big capitalists when they're creating collectives by crushing the little capitalists. On the other hand, when they start tromping on the workers, they're clearly Very Naughty. And he addresses the rampant religious fervor of most of the barons, but never really figures out how to make it fit the picture other than by suggesting they're just enormously hypocritical.

The story of railroad, steel and banking essentially taking over the country is here, nicely organized so that we can follow relevant threads without getting to caught up in chronology. Josephson sometimes lets his billowing prose and sweeping characterizations overwhelm detail and fact; his style is definitely not for all tastes.

Ultimately it's a double history, not only of the Robber Barons themselves, but of the singular vantage point of the mid-thirties. Yes, Josephson is not the most objective of chroniclers, but his bias is so clearly stated and in evidence that it is easy to filter out, and his point of view becomes an interesting subject of this study in its own right.

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book, but June 12, 2006

By Biz Reader

Format:Paperback

I found the Robber Barons an interesting book to read but I thought Matthew Josephson's book the Money Lords was better. It is a well written book as you would expect from Josephon. Robber Barons is a classic and a good general history of the pioneers of industry including Astor, Vanderbilt, Drew, Cooke, Gould, Fisk, Carnegie, Morgan, Rockefeller and Harriman of which I am sure most will find it interesting but it lacks the insight and wisdom of Money Lords. There are numerous interesting stories of all the above metioned men as they made their individual quests for success. Most of the men made a great deal of their fortunes through stocks on Wall Street which some of their stories are outlined here. Interesting enough is that over half made their fortunes in Rail Roads through ownership and stock manipulation. This is a good book giving the reader a general overview of some of the biggest fortunes made during the late 1800's.

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How Robber Barons Reformed America June 20, 2007

By Acute Observer

Format:Paperback

This 1934 book provides a history of the late 19th century that is missing from school history books. The author worked for a few years in Wall Street and learned about the "Men Who Rule America". Later he wrote a number of biographies for a magazine. These men were no match for the great capitalists who flourished in the late 19th century (the Gilded Age). He decided to write not just about their lives, manners and morals, but how they got their money. Their great wealth was unaffected by any income tax. These barons of industry were "agents of progress" in transforming an agrarian-mercantile society into a mass production economy. Josephson described their most ruthless actions, their plunders and conspiracies, and their lack of ethics. The system they created led to the Great Depression. Since then academic historians created a revisionist history that claimed those entrepreneurs were saviors of the country and not interested in looting and plundering the economy. This "history" is similar to the "truth factories" in George Orwell's "1984" [which is about Britain and the world of 1948]. Their family dynasties have survived, they established trusts that evaded the tax burdens of other wealthy families. [Other writers have pointed out that they sponsored universities to control teachers and thinking, and provide other benefits.] These dynasties seem permanent. The founders were hated by the American people in their lifetime. The farmers of Kansas first applied the name "Robber Barons" to the railroads that oppressed them.

Jay Gould bought the "New York World" and the Associate Press to control the news to his advantage. Most newspapers then were independently owned, unlike today's corporate media. The Robber Barons used their control of transportation to levy tolls on all shipments. Today's versions are trying to privatize public highways and add new tolls to enrich themselves and impoverish the rest of us. Chapter 12 tells about the formations of pools and trusts. The use of legal shields, violence and sabotage set a precedent for latter-day organized crime. Bankers were enriched in 1873 when the Federal Government stopped silver currency. Debts contracted with cheap greenbacks had to be repaid with expensive gold (p.290). The "Railway Mania" of the Civil War era led to excessive railroad lines that lost money (p.292). Hundreds of millions of dollars were lost to bankruptcy and fraud. [Was this comparable to the High-Tech stock swindles of the late 1990s?] The Pennsylvania Railroad was the most powerful in business (p.295). Unregulated competition led to enormous waste and an impoverished society (p.297). The Morgan bank worked out a deal which evaded the law (p.299). [The decision of the US Supreme Court suggests they were touched like other politicians (p.306).]

"Nature's Noblemen" were at their height of power and reputation in the 1880s. They were in control of government (police, army, navy, courts), the schools, the press, the church, and fashionable society (as ever a "kept class" attached to the ruling class). They were true believers in the God that rewarded them with riches and powers (pp.316-317). "God gave me my money" (p.318). [Divine right?] They donated millions to churches because it was good business (pp.320-321) They money was orthodox! Rockefeller's Chicago University argued to justify the trusts (p.324). They appointed and controlled Federal judges. The lives of the colossally rich showed their emptiness and vulgarity (p.337). Chapter 15 explains how laws were passed (pp.356-358). Their absolute powers were shown by their ruthless attacks on labor unions (p.361). The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed against the industrialists but was used against unions (p.367)!

Chapter 16 explains how mismanagement led to the Panic of 1893, the worst depression of the 19th century. [Economic oppression and a lack of money cause depressions.] Depressions were used to eliminate small competitors (p.379). Price fixing swindled tax-payers (pp.385-386). "Pump and dump" schemes made millions (pp.387-388). Carnegie supplied low-quality armor for Navy ships (p.391). Chapter 17 tells how the House of Morgan used people's monies to control the people (p.409). Morgan saved railroads in order to destroy them (p.413). Morgan "saved the country" (p.414)! Chapter 18 tells how the US Steel Trust was created. $1,321 millions in stocks and bonds were sold to buy $681 millions of tangible assets (p.429)! Things began to change in 1901 with Teddy Roosevelt (p.445). Trusts exploited the public (p.447). Would plutocracy triumph over the people (p.448)? They continued to profit from plundering the people (p.451) They learned to use "public relations counselors" to present themselves to the public (p.452).
The `Bibliography' lists the books used for research. There is no mention of the attacks on the militia in those days. [Have we learned anything since then?]