2 comments about John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Freedom, 1937-1946.

1. There was a time when John Maynard Keynes was not the most famous living economist. Then he was. Then, after he died, he seemed to be more useful than Karl Marx to anyone who was interested in how modern economies actually operate in the best times, when statistics actually reflect the level of some real activities. Two earlier biographies by Robert Skidelsky cover the years in which Keynes gained in stature and wrote his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936), described by Joseph Schumpeter as "the dying voice of the bourgeois crying in the wilderness for the profits it dare not fight for." (FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM 1937-1946, p. 4). This final volume starts with the problems with his heart that, after ten years of making Keynes an invalid, deprived the world of his advice at a time when situations continued to change at a pace which needed someone to keep applying different aspects of the General Theory in time to keep most elements of society from feeling that they were being swindled. He never had enough power to make a miraculous demonstration of anything, but the spread of American wealth after World War Two made many professionals think that it was possible, if not already proved, that happy days could keep reappearing here again far more optimistically than Joseph Schumpeter's dour statement.

   Economics has become a science which is widely taught at a college level. Robert Skidelsky seems comfortable with writing about the political struggles involved, the nature of intellectual controversies in the field, and he is generous in his comments about Friedrich von Hayek, author of THE ROAD TO SERFDOM, and Milton Friedman, who emphasized other aspects of political economy. The years 1937-1946 had major problems of their own, and there is far more attention in FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM paid to the people that Keynes had contact with and responsibilities to. The Preface to the American Edition is dated 6 October, 2001. Already the author was prepared to apply a lesson of this book to our life and times:

   "To be reminded of the realities of alliance politics, even in the case of such close partners as Britain and the United States, is timely in the aftermath of the tragic events of 11 September, when the United States is working to construct a global coalition against terrorism. In 1940, it was British vulnerability which threw it into the arms of the United States. America did not fail its fellow-democracy; but also used the occasion to settle old scores, and secure pole position in the post-war international order." (p. xv).

   A major episode in this book recounts how an economic genius approaches the United States of America on behalf of a bankrupt country at the end of a big war to get debts pushed far enough into the future to be able to convince himself `If we don't make it by then, we're sunk anyway,' only to be asked why he didn't bring along the trade representatives. Countries which did not get involved in the current endless war might have leaders who read the British edition, which was published in 2000. Even at the beginning of this book, Keynes thought a government was foolish to commit itself to a war before the overwhelming mass of its people were convinced that the war was absolutely necessary, even after he felt that the Munich Agreement had been a pathetic trick.

   This book describes Keynes as being conservative, and the picture it paints of his legacy continues the tradition of maintaining a bias in favor of economic stability. The Truman-Eisenhower years had a durable mix. "Setting tax rates to achieve an employment target consistent with a low rate of inflation was properly Keynesian; . . . It was to keep inflation under control by methods which did not bring about the collapse of the secular boom." (p. 505).

   "However, U.S. fiscal restraint broke down in the 1960s. In 1962, the second-generation Keynesian economists who came in to office with President Kennedy were convinced that the long-predicted slump was at hand. A further stimulus to action was the quite unwarranted fear that the Soviet Union would win the Cold War economically and politically, without any need for a hot war. So the scene was set for the big Kennedy-Johnson tax cuts and `Great Society' programmes." (p. 505).

   Economists might be familiar with the description of what followed, but the attempt to maintain a coherent theory is admirable when we get to: "Friedman's own attacks were launched from within Keynes's own macroeconomic citadel, but, by ruthlessly applying the maximizing logic to individual behavior, he gave two of the Keynesian `functions' -- the consumption function and the demand for money function -- properties of stability which they had lacked in their Keynesian form." (p. 506).

   The picture of the doctor responsible for treating Keynes's heart, James Plesch, is labeled "the doctor who brought JMK `back to life', and whom he called `the Ogre'." (facing page 166). This is a typically British nickname for a Jewish Hungarian who left Germany in 1933 and settled in England. (p. 40). The author and I suspect that he was more thorough than British doctors. "There is no reason to doubt Keynes's own view that it was Prontosil which had brought about his dramatic improvement. Unfortunately, it was subsequently discovered that Prontosil was effective against the green streptococci lodged in the throat but not against those already firmly established in the valves of his heart." (p. 43). He lived through World War Two. He was losing money in the stock market before the war, as some people must have realized that weird things were about to happen to the economy. Keynes died before some of the big changes that were afoot. The American dream in this book: "Henry Wallace, who had fallen asleep, woke up to ask why Britain could not trade Indian independence for a write-down of Indian debt." (p. 414).




2. The last part of Robert Skidelsky's magnificent biography of J.M. Keynes is a tale about the fall of the British Empire with Keynes as one of its most clairvoyant and active go-betweens trying to avoid the disaster. Great-Britain had won the war but it was bankrupt, crushed by its debt contracted to buy US weapons.
   This book shows clearly through its analysis of the Bretton-Woods negotiations and the discussions about the conversion of British debt, that the ultimate goal of the US Administration was to get Great-Britain on its knees and to take its place as world leader.
   The US preferred an alliance with te Soviet Union against Britain. Their most important negotiator H.D. White was a convinced Soviet spy.
   Keynes defended exhaustingly Britain's role in world matters by begging time for a reconversion of the British industry from a war to a civilian economy and for safeguarding its Commomwealth with its preferential tariff and pound sterling payment system.
   The humiliatig conditions for its debt conversion imposed by the US would cripple the British economy for years. The suicidal internecine European wars created a new world hegemon: the US.
   
   Before the war, Keynes defended his 'Treatise' policies, but saw them applied in Germany by a very clever economist, Hjalmar Schacht, who also saved the German economy internationally by creating a bilateral trade system.
   Prof. Skidelsky shows us also pregnantly the deterioration of Keynes's physical condition, aggravated by his exhausting travels, difficult (empty handed) negotiations and even hard opposition at home when he was in the US.
   
   One could perhaps slightly criticize the exhaustive excerpts of letters or the extremely detailed evolution of the negotiations in Bretton-Woods or about British debt relief. But, all in all, this is a fascinating read.

2 comments about Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (Trailblazers, Rediscovering the Pioneers of Business).

1. The story is fascinating and you can't help but like Baruch despite his ego. Grant does a nice job although more because he was truly interested in the man rather than because he's a great biographer.



2. James Grant does a fair job. Baruch does come across as a likeable personality. The author perhaps could have been a little more critical in his analysis and also focussed on Baruch's private life and public years after 1945 a bit more.

5 comments about Masters of the Universe: Winning Strategies of America's Greatest Dealmakers.

1. I like books that summarize outstanding businessmen. Sometimes I learn something. Sometimes I'm just entertained. This book does not contain massive new information but it entertained me and I learned something. While I recommend the book, it is not in the top 10 business books I have read.



2. I must admit to being utterly disappointed with this book. So much so, that I skipped most of it and ultimately decided it to be a waste of time. Spelling errors, repetitive language and uninteresting commentary seem to be a consistent theme in this book. I would neither recommend its purchase, nor borrowing it from a friend. Don't waste your time.



3. As a business writer, I fruitfully used this book as the barest presentation of the facts before going to do a heavy reporting project. However, had I not spent some time with one of the protagonists in this book and then a great deal more with his associates, I would never have clearly understood what they actually do and how they work. As it stands, this book offers a quick and dirty intro to the biggest dealmakers of their time. While some background and explanations are offered, it leaves out the gritty details and true complexity of what goes on in these huge and often risky deals. That disappointed me about this book more and more as I delved into my work.

   Kadlec also adopts a kind of chummy tone with these guys, like they are bar pals as well as subjects for his work, and so you wonder what he may have left out to protect his professional relationships. He barely questions what they do and never really broaches the questions of ethics, as if such considerations don't exist; well, they do, and the people I spoke to were informed and concerned about ethics.

   So this is merely a superficial trade-journalistic treatment. While this has merit, it is rather more like a vanilla milkshake than the full meal I had hoped for. I wanted deeper info, but then I was preparing to enter on a several-month project about a field I knew little about when I started.

   The writing is also not very good, and lengthy interviews are included verbatim, which is a shoddy way to beef up the text to little purpose.

   Not strongly recommended.




4. Masters of the Universe is a very good airplane/bedroom compilation. It's really a history of the "great" business innovators and shakers during the late 19th and 20th century. Each "mover" is 10-12 pages long. If you like history and business, this should be very educational.



5. This book does a great job showing how an assortment of business people from different industries became successful in their careers. The most important lesson to learn from this book is that many of these business people came from a similar background to your own and you too could have the success they did. This book does not give a large amount of detail as to how each businessperson became successful, but it still gives an excellent high-level view.

5 comments about John Maynard Keynes: Volume 1: Hopes Betrayed 1883-1920 (John Maynard Keynes).

1. Robert Skidelsky provides a punctilious account of the most influential economist of the 20th century and the intellectual and social milieu's that shaped him. Keynes is easily the most recognizable name in 20th century economics, followed somewhat closely by John Kenneth Galbraith and Milton Friedman.

   In the book's preface, Skidelsky claims he was the first biographer to attempt to go into detail about Keynes' hitherto undiscussed homosexual relationships. The most notable and emotionally involved of these affairs occured with painter and fellow Bloomsbury member Duncan Grant. Skidelsky confirms that Keynes also slept with Bloomsbury biographer Lytton Strachey. Several corresponding letters between Keynes and Strachey not only confirm this, but a subsequent sexual rivalry over the affections of Grant. G.E. Moore's 'Principia Ethica' unquestionably wrought out a strong influence on Keynes and Strachey's radical sexual attitudes after they had read it. Some unfastidious anti-Keynesians have tried to tie in Keynes' early predispositions to homosexuality (he later in life married a Russian Ballet dancer named Lydia Lopokova) with his rejection of the gold standard. This probably isn't a valid argument, given the level of abstraction Keynes' mind reached at an early age to develop and entertain such unorthadox methods.

   Keynesian economics has been repudiated by many laissez-faire proponents over the past two decades. The most well reasoned of these critiques have come from Friedman and Robert Lucas; who have each received Nobel Prizes for their work. Notwithstanding, both pale in comparison with the impact Keynesianism has had on post-WW2 macroeconomics.

   Whether or not you're an unyeilding Keynesian or a free market capitalist, you'll find it impossible not to marvel at this remarkable biography of a remarkable man. Keynes should be included at the top of anyone's list of the 20th century's most important intellectuals.




2. Hopes betrayed is an exceptionally well researched and insightful book. The author goes into detail, and confirms previously unspoken truths about Keynes early life. It pays particular attention to Keynes homosexuality, such as his long held affections for Duncan Grant, and also his relationships, coiteries, and philosophies. Personally I found the chapters deailing Keynes' influence in the war most interesting.

   Although the book goes into ample detail, it is a little dry, and possibly lacks a little life. One sometimes feels as if there are a few too many quotes, names and places. This somewhat detracts from the interest of the book.

   However, overall anyone who is curious as to what made father of modern economics ought to read this book.




3. John Maynard Keynes' life faithfully portrayed by Robert Skidelsky, is a life of a man grown up amidst the intelectual aristocracy of his time, which coincided with the beginning of the downfall of the Victorian age and was to culminate in the First World War. His father John Neville Keynes was a famous economist of his time and had many other intelectual atributes which he didn't want to put up to test in the academic arena, despite a lot of incentives by the famous economist Alfred Marshall, the most proeminent thinker of the neo-classics school of thought. Neville Keynes was determined instead to follow closely and have influence upon the professional careers of his most inteligent son. To anyone who whished to compare this situation to the education the philosopher James Mill gave to his son John Stuart Mill, I would warn he/she to be cautious cause the result is very much different than could be foresaw.
   What the book shows is the fascinating formative years of one of the most influential men of all times, who had a strong appetite for getting all the knowledge he could get and who didn't hide behind his geniality. Quite to the contrary, Keynes was up for everything he could grab, be it different sexual male partners, a lot of trips to Italy and a lot of academic prizes, estimulated by the spirit of competion his father tried to assert on him, at the end to no avail. Also, the pace of his intelectual output is outstanding, being Keynes almost always pushed to the limit to do a lot of different things at the same time.
   Some crude aspects of Keynes sexual life are also all there via the transcriptions of the many letters he exchanged with his male lovers and friends of the many different intelectual cycles he was part of.
   His education at the noblest institutions in England (Eton and Cambridge)where he got the opportunity to intermingle with the likes of Bertrand Russell, Virginia Wolf, Whitehead and the philosopher Moore, the latter certainly the most fundamental influence he had in these formative years, provided the social and intelectual backgrounds needed to awake the geniality of the most brilliant economist of the last century.



4. This profoundly researched and uncensored (sexually speaking) biography gives us a fascinating look into a highly privileged group of people in England when the British Empire was at its zenith. Half (sic) of the world's trade was financed by British credits in 1914.
   It pictures the education of young Keynes, groomed by his parents for the highest civil duties, his acceptance in the exclusive Cambridge Apostles Circle (a main discussion point was Higher Sodomy) and his membership of the, in all aspects, anarchic Bloomsbury group. It shows without restaint Keynes' (homo)sexual awakening and his conventional (based on the Gold Standard) beginnings as an economist.
   In the meantime, this book reveals the functioning of the British elitist School system (Eton, Cambridge) as well as the 'moral' environment of this period: the death of God and the birth of mass democracy.
   Prof. Skidelsky's book contains a wealth of information on e.g. the conservative reasoning behind the Gold Standard, Utilitarianism or Moore's essentialistic, but influential, ethic system.
   He shows us Keynes as a fundamental nationalist: 'it is better to have Englishmen running the world than foreigners'.
   But nothwithstanding his exhausting efforts, he saw Britain and mainland Europe sinking under the war debts and being taken over by the US as world power, which was effectively controlled by one man, J.P. Morgan.
   He attacked severely the Versailles Treaty but was devastated that politicians preferred suicidal short-time revenge and election success rather than long-time beneficial solutions.
   This book is sometimes too detailed with extensive letter excerpts. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating read.



5. This book is an excellent choice for a potential reader who is searching for a general overview of Keynes's early life.Like Moggridge's one volume study,Skidelsky's first volume(of three)has many interesting anecdotes and discussions of Keynes's interactions and involvement with a wide range of people.Unfortunately,Skidelsky drops the ball when he tries to evaluate the technical and intellectual contributions that Keynes made to applied probability,statistics and decision science in the period from 1904 to 1920. Keynes finally published his pathbreaking work in 1921 in his A Treatise on Probability(TP).A specialist can only come to the conclusion that Keynes made no breakthroughs in his TP after reading Skidelsky's bare bones treatment.This is most likely due to the fact that Skidelsky is a historian who has no training in the fields of mathematics, probability and statistics.It is true that Skidelsky limits his discussion of the TP in his first volume because he wanted to make an extended discussion of it in the second volume.Unfortunately,the treatment of the TP in volume II is badly marred by a number of mathematical errors.The interested potential book buyer is advised to read my review of volume II.Skidelsky fails to mention anywhere in Volume I that Keynes is the founder of the interval estimate approach to probability.In general,excluding the cases of symmetry and series or sequences composed of homogeneous frequency data,it takes two numbers,not one,to correctly specify an estimate of probability.A probability estimate is thus made up of a lower bound and an upper bound.Further,Keynes specified a clearcut approximation method based on the original work of George Boole in chapters 15 and 17 of the TP.The reader should note that all of this material is present in Keynes's 1907 and 1909 fellowship theses that he submitted to Cambridge University.Also present in these theses is an index created to measure the weight of the evidence,w.Keynes used different terms to describe weight,such as value,before settling for the term weight in the final published 1921 version.w measure the completeness of the relevant, potential evidence upon which a decision maker is going to base an estimate of probability.w is defined on the unit interval between 0 and 1,i.e.,0<=w<=1.Finally,Skidelsky ignores Keynes's conventional coefficient of risk and weight,c.Keynes presented this coefficient in both the 1907 thesis and the 1909 thesis ,which was accepted.This coefficient is the first time in history that a decision rule incorporated nonlinear probability preferences, as well as the weight of the evidence ,or what D.Ellsberg later called the ambiguity of the evidence in a 1961 Quarterly Journal of Economics article.

No comments about Navigating the World of Network Marketing: Third Edition.

5 comments about Financier: The Biography of André Meyer: A Story of Money, Power, and the Reshaping of American Business.

1. A great read with a facinating mix of famous characters ranging from fiancial world to the political world from the 1940s to the 1970s. The book offers great gossip about New York society as well as the wheeling and dealings of the M&A world. Mr. Meyer is portrayed as a strong, determined and respected man who was certainly not saint but the author offers a truthful perspective. The book is a easy read, and focuses on Meyer's business and personal relationships rather than heavy finacial jargon. It's a great read, I couldn't put it down.



2. 1) If you've ever thought about going into the investment banking/ Venture Capital business 2) If you enjoy history - of any type 3) If you enjoy well-written books that are more than a dry summation of the "agreed upon" facts 4) if you want a book that is more interesting and has more plots and schemes than any detective/spy thriller



3. Overall this book provided great historical details into the mind of one of Investment Bankings greatest personalities. Andre Meyer's networking skills were 90% responsible for his success with the remaining 10% being attributable to his sheer tenacity.

   The book does drag in some spots, but the author definitely did his homework.




4. This book should be required reading for all employees of Lazard. As an employee I found this book very informative and useful in understanding my firm culture and history. The book is well written, and full of interesting trivia about Lazard and Andre Meyer.



5. Andre Meyer is the ephytome of the investment banker, like J.P. Morgan or Sidney Weinberg before and Felix Rohatyn around the same time, Andre Meyer embodied what many aspiring bankers use to idealize when picking that career. He was the master of Relational Banking, which is now reemerging as the way to go for top tier brokerage and banking houses. Although, not a husband or father role model the details about his personal life are very interesting to read too.

3 comments about So Far, So Good: The First 94 Years.

1. The Connable's have put together a very informative book. I found it an excellent read, interspersed with valuable insights into investing on Wall Street and in the world of the Arts.



2. Roy Neuberger has had an amazing life during an even more amazing time. This lightweight exposition offers little insight into either. I got more out of his interview on CBS Sunday Morning. More could have been gleaned from a short magazine article. Certainly not worth the price.



3. This is a quick read and is strewn with practical investment advice from someone who obviously knows what he is talking about_____ Roy Neuberger is probably the only man alive who witnessed BOTH crashes (1929 & 1987) on Wall Street ! This book is full of profitable insights and like all masters , Neuberger wastes no words : he is crisp & to the point . Simplicity after all is the essence of true mastery (not to be confused with the simple-minded) and Mr.Neuberger has boiled the wisdom of a lifetime on the Street into these pages .

5 comments about Greed to Green.

1. David Gottfried weaves a crucially important save-the-environment story with great drama and panache. I really enjoyed the memoir style as a vehicle for learning more about how we can "green" buildings & our lives. His work has been pivotal in bringing the environmental agenda to the table with the stakeholders -- mostly developers & investors. Bravo, David!



2. I loved this book! David Gottfried has captured the zeitgeist of my generation as we search for meaning within our careers and families. His arc from greedy pig developer to environmental entrepreneur is totally inspiring and has broad appeal. His writing style makes the sometimes fusty/techie area of "green buildings" very accessible and fascinating. People outside of the movement, like me, will love it. Thank you, David Gottfried!



3. In the world that we live in sometimes money can paradoxically become a source of sorrow rather than happiness. This is especially true when people use the name of God for their own personal profits. One must remember that God moves in mysterious ways and that no lie or deceit is so thick that it cannot be penetrated by his vision. Sooner or later justice is served...



4. David Gottfried, the founder of the U.S. Green Building Council and the World Green Building Council, started his career with a privileged entry into real estate development (his cousins were in the business). But unlike many or most Baby Boomers, Gottfried was not seduced (at least not permanently) by a high income at a young age, Armani suits, power and illicit sex with an enticing, if manipulative, co-worker. Instead, he chucked it all to codify and promote the emerging industry of green (read: environmentally sound or healthy) real estate development.
   
   Gottfried's rebirth as a do-gooder was not without its setbacks: his workload rocketed, his income dwindled for a time, and he briefly succumbed to the allure of venture capital and the tech boom with disappointing results. But he emerged from the tumult of his transition successfully and has had an enormous and positive effect on the real estate development industry both in the U.S. and throughout the world.
   
   Greed to Green works on a number of levels. It is a good story, clearly told, for those interested in the real estate industry and in environmentalism. Gottfried ably discusses both fields with a minimum of technical mumbo-jumbo. But the story is more important as a tale of personal transformation and the influences that shape a life. Gottfried is especially moving when he discusses his father's influence and when he relates his search for personal meaning and balance. Such candor is rare and unexpected, especially in the commercial real estate industry, even in its greenest segment. Best of all, Greed to Green is written with real humor-- Gottfried is smart enough to laugh at his foibles and to include us in the joke.
   
   Altogether a fine read, a worthy four stars.



5. David Gottfried grows up in a fairly wealthy family, gets his first real estate job through family connections, and makes hundreds of thousands of dollars in his first ten years in the business. He then quits his job, apparently not because he strongly objects to the business practices he witnesses, but because he can't stand his domineering co-worker/girlfriend. He takes solace in his old pastime - photography - taking pictures of homeless people, whom he calls his "new friends". He struggles for a while, claiming that he is nearly out of cash, musing that he might become homeless himself. Thankfully, he manages to start a consulting company where he resumes making a six-figure salary. He also starts a non-profit where, to paraphrase one of his friends near the end of the book, he "changes the world."
   
   I have a tough time empathizing with the author and his riches-to-riches story. The whole book feels like a vanity project. He spends the first section, "Greed", detailing his many shopping trips to buy expensive clothes. The "Green" section is intended to be a 180 degree turn, but still the author can't resist telling a story about buying a Rolex, feeling he has really "earned" it this time. His motivation doesn't seem to be as much about improving the world as it is about gaining his father's approval. Maybe all these things were intended to show that the author is a human being with weaknesses and insecurities, but his writing style really turned me off to any message he might have been trying to convey.

5 comments about Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner.

1. This is an article masquerading as a book. When the price drops to the price of a newsstand magazine, as the towering remainder pile suggests it will any day now, pick up a copy. Until then, read the Vanity Fair excerpt.



2. I really liked this book. As a former participant of the crazy ways of carrying out business during the Internet hype, I think Nina Munk captured the essence of what drove so many people to act irrationally. She is objective, thorough and able to take the reader through a smooth ride across the AOL story.



3. Munk's book reads like a fast paced novel and is easy enough to understand. It has not received the publicity of books like 'Good to Great' although in many ways it provides fundamental information on how big business is really conducted- for the benefit of pushy and powerful owners, managers and special interests.
   
   Read this book to get real insight into how compliant board members and clueless senior management can wreck your 401K account. If an insider like Ted Turner could lose $ 8 billion in a three year period, where does it leave Joe Blow who plans to retire on his stock market investments?
   
   Munk's book surprised even a cynic like myself- how could 2 persons deceive and mislead so many professionals and investors and evaporate $ 200 billion in less than 3 years? If this story does not provoke actionable investigations into the effectivness of oversight and toothlessnes of the legal system (to protect investors), I am not sure what will. In this regard, it is a very valuable read.



4. Having read Stealing Time by Alec Klein, I was sure that I didn't want to read another book about the AOL-Time Warner fiasco. But then I happened to see the cover of this book at the library and couldn't resist its delightful cover. And I'm glad that the cover drew me in.
   
   Ms. Munk has written a delightful story of the world's worst large merger that features lots of texture about the key players (especially Gerry Levin) and is written in a simple, effective style. Her book has more balance than the Klein book which emphasizes the sales and accounting legerdemain at AOL.
   
   One of the book's most engaging qualities is that it is filled with powerful and interesting quotes from the participants and the observers.
   
   I have had the opportunity to observe Time Warner in the past as a consultant, and I was struck that Ms. Munk did well in capturing the management style of the company and its reclusive CEO, Mr. Levin.
   
   I would have rated the book higher except that this report still leaves the central mystery of AOL-Time Warner unexplained . . . why didn't anyone at Time Warner or its advisors figure out that AOL's profit success was based on a three-card Monte game before the deal was announced? Either people were bought off or they were monumentally stupid. Getting to the bottom of that mystery will have to await yet another book on this subject, I'm afraid. Ms. Munk puts it down to Mr. Levin's "big-picture, don't-bother-me-with-the-details" mentality.
   
   If you want smooth, easy reading that gets most of the facts right, this book is a good choice. I particularly commend this book to students who are learning about how to make (and more importantly, not to make) acquisitions. If you mainly want to know about the AOL shenanigans, I suggest Stealing Time instead.



5. You don't have to be interested in AOL, Time Warner or their merger to read this book! This is a classic tale in American history of what happens when everyone thinks they are the only one with an idea and forgets that to make a company work, there must, under no uncertain terms be Teamwork. Any company already in existence, any company about to be formed, any company about to merge, any company thinking about merging, any business person, any person entering a business field ... oh forget it - anyone on the face of the earth should read this book and their knowledge of America and its business practices would vastly improve their ability to navigate through it.

1 comments about In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World.

1. When I checked this book out of the library since it appeared to be the *only* book that would discuss the history of the coal mining industry in terms of how it revolutionized standard of living. The United States of America is considered the Saudia Arabia of coal. I wanted to read about how anthracite coal went from a pile of useless black rocks to a cheap, efficient, abundant and relatively clean energy source. Unfortunately, this book greatly fell short of my expectations in this regard.
   
   The chapters on Josiah White's discovery of the utility of anthracite coal and the entrepreneurship of John Leisenring are very exciting to read. However, this book contains too much emphasis on the impact of labor unions in the coal industry. While I am not questioning the veracity or the importance of this information, I perceive that it just does not make inspiring reading material. I decided to not finish the book.
   
   Tragically, this still might be the best book on the productive geniuses behind the coal industry to date.