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42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
Historical explanation of the rise of Big Government
No book details the historical relationship between big business and the Federal government better than this one. Though confined merely to the so-called Progressive Era in American history (1901-1914), Kolko manages to overturn all the misconceptions about the formation of government regulation in America. Instead of accepting the standard view that federal regulation...
Published on January 23, 2001 by Greg Nyquist
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7 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
Turgid writing, and rampantly revisionist
Anyone without a firm grip of economic theory and, more importantly, economic vocabularly will struggle with this rather turgid book. However, if you can deal with the writing style, and are interested in progressivism, Kolko certainly gives a good negative reference point at the extreme end of the historiographical spectrum.
Published on October 17, 2000
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42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
Historical explanation of the rise of Big Government, January 23, 2001
No book details the historical relationship between big business and the Federal government better than this one. Though confined merely to the so-called Progressive Era in American history (1901-1914), Kolko manages to overturn all the misconceptions about the formation of government regulation in America. Instead of accepting the standard view that federal regulation of business was inspired by the Progressive intellectuals and activist political leaders eager to put a check on the rising power of big business, Kolko shows that it was really inspired by the drive of businessman to limit competition and bring "stability" into the market. The result is what Kolko calls, appropriately enough, "political capitalism." Some earlier reviews have attempted to draw an ideological lesson from this book. This is a mistake. If there is a lesson to be drawn from Kolko's work, it is the failure of all ideologies (whether from the right, left, or center) to adequately explain the rise of political capitalism in America. Both the right and the left share the common assumption that government regulation hurts big business. Kolko proves that this isn't the case, that Big Business is in favor of regulation and the throttling of competition. Kolko's book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand what capitalism and politics is really all about.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
a brilliant revisionist look at the Progressive Era, December 22, 1998
Kolko does an excellent job of making the case that business regulations enacted during the Progressive Era (1900-1916) were due not to liberal reformers, but big business itself! From meat industry regulations to the FTC and the Federal Reserve Board, Kolko shows over and over again how industries sought Federal regulation in order to protect themselves from competition or secure other advantages.Whether you're liberal, conservative or libertarian, this book is a must-read for understanding the relationship between government and big business.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Dispels myths about American business history, January 7, 2001
In this reinterpretation of the Progressive Era, Gabriel Kolko marshalls a host of historical sources from the National Archives, the Library of Congress and other great outposts of scholarship to advance a bold thesis: that the Progressive Era was a "triumph of conservatism," the business reforms of the time having been fought for and shaped by not only the reformers but also the very business interests that were to be regulated. Kolko is a socialist, and his case is actually more radical than I have indicated. But it is his dispelling of many widely believed myths that I find the most enticing. Take the "merger movement" at the turn of last century. It was and is popularly believed that competition was at an all-time low, monopoly an all-time high and Theodore Roosevelt's trust-busting the necessary and proper response. But Kolko proves this conventional belief false. In case studies of the big powerhouse industries of the time, he shows that, in spite of (or because of) the merger movement, they were more competitive than they had ever been. Whether the industry was steel, oil, automobiles, agricultural machinery, telephones, copper or meat-packing--Kolko's conclusion is the same: mergers, if anything, decreased companies' efficiency relative to their competitors. In the new century's first decade, the total number of competing firms in each industry grew; market shares of the dominant players, meanwhile, shrunk. As Kolko states, "There was *more* competition, and profits, if anything, declined. Most contemporary economists and many smaller businessmen failed to appreciate this fact, and historians have probably failed to recognize it altogether" (emphasis Kolko's). The stage thus set by the failure of the merger movement, Kolko moves on to the myth that Progressive Era reforms were uniformly or even predominantly opposed by their affected industries. The key is to realize that, economic strategies like corporate consolidation having failed, companies turned to political strategies to freeze the status quo or to gain new competitive advantages. As Kolko states, "the essential purpose and goal of any measure of importance in the Progressive Era was not merely endorsed by key representatives of businesses involved; rather such bills were first proposed by them." Food companies, for example, wanted the Food and Drug Act so that they could turn its regulations against their competitors (e.g., oleo versus butter). Big meat packers desired to save their industry from tainted meat, which hurt business, but were unable to ensure the quality of small packers' meat and unwilling to pay for independent meat inspection--so they themselves initiated the meat inspection movement, lobbied for and won passage of the Meat Inspection Act, thereby forcing inspection onto the industry and its costs onto the federal government. As for the Federal Reserve Act, it was the product of a banking reform movement "initiated and sustained" by big bankers who sought to protect themselves from small bank competition. The Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Reserve Act? Most businessmen supported them to better protect themselves from antitrust prosecution under the Sherman Act's vague provisions or (among smaller businesses) to gain such advantages as enforced "fair trade price-fixing." Thus, Kolko shows that whether for protection from competition or from the government, businesses themselves initiated or shaped these Progressive Era reforms and others that most Americans regard as being part of an anti-business (or at least not pro-business) reform movement. This book will fascinate students of American business and reform history. Ironically, given Kolko's philosophical disposition, even ardent pro-capitalists should relish it. That audience will likely be reminded of Burton W. Folsom's distinction, in his eye-opening *Myth of the Robber Barons*, between "market entrepreneurs" and "political entrepreneurs." Dominick Armentano's *Antitrust and Monopoly: Anatomy of a Policy Failure*, a work of heavier scholarship, may also be recalled to mind. His thesis that antitrust laws, even when not passed unequivocally to benefit special business interests, have "solved" nonexistent problems (and caused a few real ones) and should be repealed is entirely confirmed by Kolko's *Triumph of Conservatism*, which Armentano even cites in support (in addition to another of Kolko's works, on railroad regulations).
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7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
A rare book- close looks at history that change minds, March 4, 1999
By A Customer
I have read a good many books in my day- and economics books are my forte- but once in a while one comes along that truly are usefull in the rhetorical war that is politics. This is one of those books. The author makes the excellent point of the real history of the age that changed the lives of the American worker the most. By showing that business was the major progressive force of change, he puts to rest the notions that the era's mounting social capitol were hard won gains by progressive forces. This book is central to the argument that the trrue revolutionary forces that have become mete and standard throughout the ages have come from the most revolutionary force in history- that of capitalism.
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8 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Revolutionary, but naive, May 11, 1999
Gabriel Kolko's book is a fun read, which if you know little about the Progressive Era will be very enlightening. The major critique I have of this book is its naive conclusion that business worked together as class, that there was one opinion across the board. This is ridiculous. If you enjoy this period read this book, but read Colin Gordon's book, New Deals to be a little more complete.
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7 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
Turgid writing, and rampantly revisionist, October 17, 2000
By A Customer
Anyone without a firm grip of economic theory and, more importantly, economic vocabularly will struggle with this rather turgid book. However, if you can deal with the writing style, and are interested in progressivism, Kolko certainly gives a good negative reference point at the extreme end of the historiographical spectrum.
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