Burton Folsom’s The Myth of the Robber Barons describes the role of key entrepreneurs – Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, James J. Hill, Andrew Mellon, Charles Schwab, and the Scranton family – in the economic growth of the United States from 1850 to 1910. Most historians argue that these men were Robber Barons. The story, however, is more complicated. The author, Burton Folsom, divides the entrepreneurs into two groups market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs.
The market entrepreneurs, such as Hill, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller, succeeded by producing a quality product at a competitive price. The market entrepreneurs helped lead to the rise of the U. S. as a major economic power. By 1910, the U. S. dominated the world in oil, steel, and railroads led by Rockefeller, Schwab (and Carnegie), and Hill.
The political entrepreneurs such as Edward Collins in steamships and in railroads the leaders of the Union Pacific Railroad were men who used the power of government to succeed. They tried to gain subsidies, or in some way use government to stop competitors. The political entrepreneurs were a drain on the taxpayers and a thorn in the side of the market entrepreneurs. Interestingly, the political entrepreneurs often failed without help from government they could not produce competitive products.
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“First published in 1876, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has delighted generations of readers.”
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“In China, from time immemorial, they have possessed a certain refinement of industry and art. It is the art of molding a living man. They take a child, two or three years old, put him in a porcelain vase, more or less grotesque, which is made without top or bottom, to allow egress for the head and feet. During the day the vase is set upright, and at night is laid down to allow the child to sleep. Thus the child thickens without growing taller, filling up with his compressed flesh and distorted bones the reliefs in the vase. This development in a bottle continues for many years. After a certain time, it becomes irreparable. When they consider that this is accomplished, and the monster made, they break the vase. The child comes out–and, behold, …” – Victor Hugo, The Man Who Laughs
The moving story of facially disfigured Gwynplaine – mutilated as a child by “Comprachicos” – and his mutual love, for the beautiful but blind, Dea.
Said Ayn Rand of the novel, “The Man Who Laughs is Victor Hugo’s best novel. (Curiously enough it was the one least understood by his contemporaries.) It is not a work of historical fiction, as its background of eighteenth-century England suggests, but a symbolic fantasy – an abstraction enacted on a profound metaphysical level. It is a work in which Hugo’s imagination, freed of lesser concerns, creates a universe built in his own image and likeness. It is a dramatization of his view of man’s existence presented in the form and the violent action of a suspense story.”
Joseph Blamire translation recommended.
“Gray begins with an explanation of how atoms bond to form molecules and compounds, as well as the difference between organic and inorganic chemistry. He then goes on to explore the vast array of materials molecules can create, including: soaps and solvents; goops and oils; rocks and ores; ropes and fibers; painkillers and dangerous drugs; sweeteners; perfumes and stink bombs; colors and pigments; and controversial compounds including asbestos, CFCs, and thimerosal. Big, gorgeous photographs, as well as diagrams of the compounds and their chemical bonds, rendered with never before seen beauty, fill the pages and capture molecules in their various states.”
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“When you get up in front of a group of people, you make a contract with them; you promise them, “I am going to deliver value X.” Every once in a while, you have to say, “See, I remember; I am keeping my promise.”- Leonard Peikoff
Professor Peikoff teaches readers how to write, speak, and argue on the subject of philosophical ideas—ideas pertaining to profoundly important issues ranging from the question of the existence of God to the nature and proper limits of government power. A fantastic book that examines the principles to the problem of achieving clarity both in thought and in communication. It does require some knowledge of Objectivism as a prerequisite.
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