Monopolies in America: Empire Builders and Their Enemies from Jay Gould to Bill Gates

Monopolies in America: Empire Builders and Their Enemies from Jay Gould to Bill Gates. By Charles R. Geisst. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. x + 300 pp. Bibliography, index, notes, and illustrations. $30.00. ISBN 0195123018.

Having earlier surveyed two centuries of Wall Street history in 367 pages, Charles R. Geisst requires even less space here to cover 130 years of "the constant tug-of-war ... between Washington and corporate America" (p. ix). The format closely resembles that of his Wall Street (1997). Following an introduction that attempts with only partial success to define "monopoly," Geisst organizes his eight chapters around a straight chronological survey of the rise of big business and the dogged attempts to curb its power. The emphasis throughout tends to be less on monopoly than on its alter ego, the antitrust efforts. Biographical sketches of key players are scattered throughout the story to enliven and humanize the narrative.

The result is a kind of tourist's guide to the subject, a basic map of the terrain with the prominent sites noted and given brief explanatory markers but no depth of analysis or detail. The road signs take the form of pivotal Supreme Court cases, which help connect an otherwise rambling narrative that tends to highlight points of interest rather than explore their meaning. Experienced travelers will find little new or informative here; casual tourists may come away confused by the lack of a clear sense of destination. Nor does it help that some important sites are given short shrift or ignored altogether.

As many earlier writers have shown, the history of antitrust is a complex one with roots deep within the eras that have debated the subject. Clear understanding of those debates requires careful definition of terms and close analysis that interprets events within their specific contexts and then connects them around a meaningful theme. Little of that occurs here. Geisst is mostly content to stay on the surface of things. He argues that "The entire period of American capitalism since the Industrial Revolution has been an unrelenting trend toward consolidation" (p. 4). This trend bred monopoly, which in turn provoked antimonopoly reactions of different kinds at different times. Tracing this pattern from the early railroad imbroglios down through the ongoing Microsoft suit, he concludes that "Monopoly is the logical outcome of free market economic organization" (p. 319), and that "The history of monopoly in the United States ... still relies upon a watchful government to keep big business in check" (pp. 319-20).

These are hardly revelatory observations. What is lacking above all is a clear sense of context that might impart meaning to the discussion of the many issues, people, and decisions that parade through the book. The terms "monopoly" and "trust" are handled loosely, as are many of the episodes in which they appear. The role of the railroads is stressed as an important precedent but described in a simplistic manner that ignores early pooling efforts, barely scratches the surface of the crucial Northern Securities case (which first applied the Sherman Act to railroads), and fails even to mention the severing of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific systems in 1912. The pivotal role of J. P Morgan in the "monopoly" movement is emphasized, but often it is unclear whether a given reference is to father, son, or firm. The problematic segue of the Great Crash into a major depression is reduced to the observation that "Toward the end of the decade, many American businesses appeared to have expanded too rapidly... the overcapacity came crashing down with the stock market in 1929, creating unemployment-and with it a banking crisis-faster than anyone would have imagined" (p. 118).

One explanation for the lack of depth and insight can be found in a bibliography that is missing such basic works as those by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., Julius Grodinsky, Naomi R. Lamoreaux, Ralph L. Nelson, and Hans B. Thorelli, to name but a few of the absentees. Numerous small but nagging errors of fact lend a dimension of carelessness to the text. Senator Nelson Aldrich is twice assigned to Georgia instead of Rhode Island; the publication date for Matthew Josephson's The Robber Barons is given as 1932 instead of 1934. These and other bloopers would scarcely matter if the narrative had more shape and substance. Nor do the biographical sketches offer much help; too often they come across as mere digressions rather than an integral part of the discussion.

The covering of this formidable subject-at once so dense and elusive-in a single volume is a daunting task. That Geisst's attempt falls short is hardly surprising, but business historian and general reader alike will be disappointed that it did not at least come closer to the mark.

[Author Affiliation]

Maury Klein is a professor of history at the University of Rhode Island and the author of numerous books and articles on railroads and other areas of business history. He has recently published a biography of E. H. Harriman and is presently working on a study of the stock market crash of 1929.