Download or read book Railroad Competition and the Oil Trade 1855 1873 written by Rolland Harper Maybee and published by Philadelphia : Porcupine Press. This book was released on 1940 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Pennsylvania Railroad Volume 1 written by Albert J. Churella and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2012-10-29 with total page 970 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Do not think of the Pennsylvania Railroad as a business enterprise," Forbes magazine informed its readers in May 1936. "Think of it as a nation." At the end of the nineteenth century, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest privately owned business corporation in the world. In 1914, the PRR employed more than two hundred thousand people—more than double the number of soldiers in the United States Army. As the self-proclaimed "Standard Railroad of the World," this colossal corporate body underwrote American industrial expansion and shaped the economic, political, and social environment of the United States. In turn, the PRR was fundamentally shaped by the American landscape, adapting to geography as well as shifts in competitive economics and public policy. Albert J. Churella's masterful account, certain to become the authoritative history of the Pennsylvania Railroad, illuminates broad themes in American history, from the development of managerial practices and labor relations to the relationship between business and government to advances in technology and transportation. Churella situates exhaustive archival research on the Pennsylvania Railroad within the social, economic, and technological changes of nineteenth- and twentieth-century America, chronicling the epic history of the PRR intertwined with that of a developing nation. This first volume opens with the development of the Main Line of Public Works, devised by Pennsylvanians in the 1820s to compete with the Erie Canal. Though a public rather than a private enterprise, the Main Line foreshadowed the establishment of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1846. Over the next decades, as the nation weathered the Civil War, industrial expansion, and labor unrest, the PRR expanded despite competition with rival railroads and disputes with such figures as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. The dawn of the twentieth century brought a measure of stability to the railroad industry, enabling the creation of such architectural monuments as Pennsylvania Station in New York City. The volume closes at the threshold of American involvement in World War I, as the strategies that PRR executives had perfected in previous decades proved less effective at guiding the company through increasingly tumultuous economic and political waters.
Download or read book The American Railroad Network 1861 1890 written by George Rogers Taylor and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1956 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rapid population growth in the Great Plains and the American West after the Civil War was the result not only of railroad expansion but of a collaboration among competing railroads to adopt a uniform width for track. This title shows how the consolidation of smaller railroads and the growth of capitalism worked to unify the railroad industry.
Download or read book The First Tycoon written by T.J. Stiles and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-04-20 with total page 738 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD In this groundbreaking biography, T.J. Stiles tells the dramatic story of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man and American icon who, through his genius and force of will, did more than perhaps any other individual to create modern capitalism. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The First Tycoon describes an improbable life, from Vanderbilt’s humble birth during the presidency of George Washington to his death as one of the richest men in American history. In between we see how the Commodore helped to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation. Epic in its scope and success, the life of Vanderbilt is also the story of the rise of America itself.
Download or read book Democracy and the Origins of the American Regulatory State written by Samuel DeCanio and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-27 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political scientist Samuel DeCanio examines how political elites used high levels of voter ignorance to create a new type of regulatory state with lasting implications for American politics. Focusing on the expansion of bureaucratic authority in late-nineteenth-century America, DeCanio’s exhaustive archival research examines electoral politics, the Treasury Department’s control over monetary policy, and the Interstate Commerce Commission’s regulation of railroads to examine how conservative politicians created a new type of bureaucratic state to insulate policy decisions from popular control.
Download or read book Iron Confederacies written by Scott Reynolds Nelson and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2005-10-12 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During Reconstruction, an alliance of southern planters and northern capitalists rebuilt the southern railway system using remnants of the Confederate railroads that had been built and destroyed during the Civil War. In the process of linking Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia by rail, this alliance created one of the largest corporations in the world, engendered bitter political struggles, and transformed the South in lasting ways, says Scott Nelson. Iron Confederacies uses the history of southern railways to explore linkages among the themes of states' rights, racial violence, labor strife, and big business in the nineteenth-century South. By 1868, Ku Klux Klan leaders had begun mobilizing white resentment against rapid economic change by asserting that railroad consolidation led to political corruption and black economic success. As Nelson notes, some of the Klan's most violent activity was concentrated along the Richmond-Atlanta rail corridor. But conflicts over railroads were eventually resolved, he argues, in agreements between northern railroad barons and Klan leaders that allowed white terrorism against black voters while surrendering states' control over the southern economy.
Download or read book Not Without Honor written by Ben H. Procter and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John H. Reagan was one of the most important figures in Texas history; this was the first biography of him to be published. Reagan, who was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1818, came to Texas twenty-one years later—while Texas was still a republic—and stayed to play many major roles in its later economic and political development. In this excellent biography, Ben H. Procter not only re-creates for us the character of the man, with his forthright integrity and his boundless desire for knowledge, but also places him against the background of the time in which he lived. In vivid language Procter portrays the violence and vigor of pioneer life, the excitement of frontier politics, the dedication, devotion, enthusiasm, and—ultimately—despair of the Civil War, and the bitterness of the struggle with the railroad tycoons and their gargantuan monopolies. Spanning as it does the Republic of Texas, early statehood, the Confederacy, Reconstruction, and the era of the "robber barons," the story of John H. Reagan encompasses a panoramic sweep of mid- to late-nineteenth-century United States history. Throughout his long life, respect came to Reagan almost as a matter of course. The forceful strength of his personality made an impression few people could ignore. From the day when Colonel Durst hired the young Reagan as a tutor for his children, exclaiming, "This man is a scholar," until the day some fifty years later when Governor Hogg persuaded him to leave the U.S. Senate to become chairman of the new Railroad Commission because the Commission "must be above reproach," his extraordinary character and ability were recognized. In fact, the perceptive intelligence that made him examine all aspects of a situation, and the sturdy integrity and courage that made it impossible for him to abandon a position he believed to be right simply because it was for the moment unpopular, frequently gave him the appearance of a prophet. Although this "prophetic gift" occasionally led to interludes of public disfavor, Reagan was accorded honor, even in his own land—and in later years veneration—that any prophet might envy.
Download or read book The Triumph of Militant Republicanism written by Erwin Stanley Bradley and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2016-11-11 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.
Download or read book A Pipeline Runs Through It written by Keith Fisher and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2022-08-04 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Fascinating revelations' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'An immensely valuable guide to a great and terrible industry' The Economist 'The book I have long been waiting for... Essential reading' Michael Klare Petroleum has always been used by humans: as an adhesive by Neanderthals, as a waterproofing agent in Noah's Ark and as a weapon during the Crusades. Its eventual extraction from the earth in vast quantities transformed light, heat and power. A Pipeline Runs Through It is a fresh, in-depth look at the social, economic, and geopolitical forces involved in our transition to the modern oil age. It tells an extraordinary origin story, from the pre-industrial history of petroleum through to large-scale production in the mid-nineteenth century and the development of a dominant, fully-fledged oil industry by the early twentieth century. This was always a story of imperialist violence, economic exploitation and environmental destruction. The near total eradication of the Native Americans of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio has barely been mentioned as a precondition for the emergence of the first oil region in the United States. The growth of Royal Dutch-Shell involved the genocidal subjugation of people of the Dutch East Indies and the exploitation of oil in the Middle East arose seamlessly out of Britain's prior political and military interventions in the region. Finally, in an entirely new analysis, the book shows how the British navy's increasingly desperate dependence on vulnerable foreign sources of oil may have been a catalytic ingredient in the outbreak of the First World War. The rise of oil has shaped the modern world, and this is the book to understand it.
Download or read book Routes of Power written by Christopher F. Jones and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-07 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fossil fuel revolution is usually a tale of advances in energy production. Christopher Jones tells a tale of advances in energy access—canals, pipelines, wires delivering cheap, abundant power to cities at a distance from production sites. Between 1820 and 1930 these new transportation networks set the U.S. on a path to fossil fuel dependence.
Download or read book The Rockefellers An American Dynasty written by Peter Collier and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2022-02-18 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of an American dynasty: the father, who built the fortune, the son who cleansed the name, the brothers who manipulated both the name and the fortune to their own ends, and the cousins who often wish they had inherited neither. Cast against the backdrop of America’s history is a spectacular array of characters: a bigamist, a robber baron, a philanthropist, a world-weary cynic, a drifting divorcee, polluters, environmentalists, art lovers and money manipulators. “[An] absorbing history of the Rockefeller family... a swiftly paced, extensively researched work of social history, a tale of family tensions and neuroses, of successes and failures in private and in public, all of it unfolding against a backdrop of money, influence and power.” — Steven R. Weisman, The New York Times “[A]n exceptionally good book” — John Kenneth Galbraith, The New York Review of Books “[Collier and Horowitz] present a sensitive family biography, more wistful than angry, more concerned with the impact of immense wealth on individual personality than on society. The authors received special access to the Rockefeller family archives.” — Gaddis Smith, Foreign Affairs “A startling tale emerges, shattering all we know and believe about the Rockefellers, destroying the legend brutally with significant revelations and — yet — winning a depth of sympathy for Rockefellers which three generations of PR men have not been able to manufacture.” — William Greider, Washington Post Book World “A skillful portrait of great wealth... A vast sweep of world-shaping episodes, dates and names.” — The Houston Chronicle “Impressive and intelligent... skillfully organized and presented so that it matters — not only to those curious about Rockefellers but to anyone curious about money and power in our society.” — Newsweek
Download or read book European Capital British Iron and an American Dream written by William Reynolds and published by The University of Akron Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Atlantic & Great Western Railroad was one of the earliest and largest east-west railroad projects in the United States. It was the dream of American builders William Reynolds of Pennsylvania and Marvin Kent of Ohio. By using the non-standard six-foot gauge, these men helped construct a trunk line connecting the Atlantic tidewater with the Mississippi River without break of gauge. Money for the construction came principally from European investors, like Don Jose de Salamanca of Spain, while Great Britain furnished the iron. A strong English support group included James McHenry, Sir Samuel Morton Peto, and the brilliant engineer, Thomas Kennard. This American-European enterprise represented a unique example of intercontinental cooperation in railroad history. Reynolds was the first president of the Pennsylvania and New York divisions of the A&GW. This published history is the first published source on this important railroad. With a memorable talent for detail and authority, Reynolds demonstrates how difficult it was to build a railroad against a backdrop of the Civil War. The lack of capital and resources, the scarcity of labor, the control of the oil market, and the endless struggle against hostile public opinion and fierce competitors like the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central posed challenges that were not easily overcome. Yet, as Reynolds states, in the face of all these formidable obstacles, the enterprise was crowned with success.
Download or read book Industrial Organization in Context written by Stephen Martin and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2010-04-22 with total page 1021 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Industrial Organization in Context examines the economics of markets, industries and their participants and public policy towards these entities. It takes an international approach and incorporates discussion of experimental tests of economic models.
Download or read book Catalogue of Copyright Entries written by Library of Congress. Copyright Office and published by . This book was released on 1941 with total page 746 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book John D Rockefeller written by Allan Nevins and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Writings on Pennsylvania History a Bibliography written by Pennsylvania Historical Association and published by . This book was released on 1946 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Emergence of Oligopoly written by Alfred S. Eichner and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1969. In describing the emergence of oligopoly, Professor Eichner has written a history of the American sugar refining industry, one based in part on records of the United States Department of Justice. Sugar refining was one of the first major industries to be consolidated, and its expertise was in many ways typical of the development of other industries. Eichner's focus is on the changing pattern of industrial organization. This study is based on a unique four-stage model of the process by which the industrial structure of the American economy has evolved. The first part of the book traces the early history of the sugar refining industry and argues that the classical model of a competitive industry is inherently unstable once large fixed investments are required. The more closely sugar refining approximated this model, the more unstable the model became in practice. This instability led, in 1887, to the formation of the sugar trust. The author contends that the trust was formed not to exploit economies of scale but with the intent of achieving control over prices. In the second part of the book, Eichner describes the political and legal reaction that transformed monopoly into oligopoly. This sequence of events is best understood in terms of a learning curve in which the response of businessmen over time was related to the changing institutional environment in which they were forced to operate.
