An acclaimed classic detailing the economic history of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and exposing the capitalist giants who changed the world. Frederick Lewis Allen’s insightful financial history of the United States – from the late 1800s through the stock market collapse of 1929 – remains a seminal work on what brought on America’s worst economic disaster: the Great Depression. In the decades following the Civil War, America entered an era of unprecedented corporate expansion, with ultimate financial power in the hands of a few wealthy industrialists who exploited the capitalist system for everything it was worth. The Rockefellers, Fords, Morgans, and Vanderbilts were the “lords of creation” who, along with like-minded magnates, controlled the economic destiny of the country, unrestrained by regulations or moral imperatives. Through a combination of foresight, ingenuity, ruthlessness, and greed, America’s giants of industry remolded the US economy in their own preferred image. In so doing, they established their absolute power and authority, ensuring that they – and they alone – would control the means of production, transportation, energy, and commerce – thereby setting the stage for the most devastating global financial collapse in history.
As Gretchen Morgenson thoughtfully states in her introduction, “It is not immediately clear why the frequency and severity of financial scandals is increasing in the United States. What is clear is that we need to understand the origins of these disasters, as well as the policies and people that bring them on…. While distant actions may seem unrelated to current events, rereading about the past almost always provides surprising insights into the present.”
Read it and weep… I started reading this book because I’ve heard that economic conditions are very similar right now to those that preceded the famous Wall St. crash of 1929. It’s disgusting to note that many of the names that figured prominently in sending the nation into the chaos of the Great Depression are the EXACT same names that are setting us up to fall down again. This book was written a long time ago, so the style seems a bit stilted or stuffy (hence a 4 out of 5), and I don’t have patience for long…
Wall Street on Parade per Disappeared book Series NYU Media Studies Professor, Mark Crispin Miller, has stumbled upon a potential landmine for Wall Street. In conjunction with Open Road Media, Miller has unearthed and is bringing back to life important vanished books under the imprint “Forbidden Bookshelf.” One of those books is The Lords of Creation: The History of America’s 1 Percent by Frederick Lewis Allen.Â
Wonderful book! A detailed account of the financial expansion in the U.S. from the 1890’s up to the Depression. In spite of the complexities of this subject Allen manages to make it understandable and interesting. There are so many similarities to what is happening in our country today that it should be a must read for everyone. I’ll be saving this one for future reading and reference. Allen was such a gifted historical writer, if you have any interest in this period of time in American history then read…