and other stuff. If you like business history and economics, you'll find some pretty interesting essays and monographs here, for free even. Skimming over most of the posts here, most of you people really, really need to read more ... especially those idiots who really think those Arab murder societies and armies aren't using a Nazi salute; it's merely a coincidence that all the units involved in attacking Israel all have the same 'ancient salute from the Roman days', while the governments of their financiers, foreign officers, and suppliers don't, not a single one. ROFL ...

Besides, you don't want to be like Guido, forever proving he has no knowledge of history, or even basic sanity, so read more, and don't be a Guido. You'll be glad you did.

i read an even handed account of Gould 20 years ago-it may have been this one-i really enjoyed how the author dehorned the villain-he didnt make him a "good guy" but he put the guy in context-be interesting how our present day villains will fare with the rewrites..

i read an even handed account of Gould 20 years ago-it may have been this one-i really enjoyed how the author dehorned the villain-he didnt make him a "good guy" but he put the guy in context-be interesting how our present day villains will fare with the rewrites..

Yes, but people change over years. There is the young Gould, no principles to speak of, greedy as all hell, and the extremely wealthy Gould, who wanted to show what he could do and leave a different legacy than the young Gould. this is a typical pattern for ego driven sociopaths throughout history; look at all the churches and charities left behind by robber barons.

It would be more impressive if they gave all that wealth back to those they stole it from or drove into the ground and ruined their lives in the first place. Apparently that 'novel' idea never seems to cross their minds ...

well a lot of times those guys werent much better than they

Ah, well, I obviously forgot to post the link ... next time I'll have fewer tabs open when I'm posting on several sites, and maybe I won't miss one ...

Business And Economic History Review (http://www.h-net.org/~business/bhcweb/publications/BEHprint/toc151986.html)

well a lot of times those guys werent much better than they

In some cases, but others, like Carnegie, could easily have spread it out among his employees, rather than hiring Pinkertons to shoot down people over a $22K a year 'labor savings', to a company clearing $5 million a year profits, as happened at Homestead. It's interesting to note the oil companies rarely had labor problems, and didn't mind paying well, even the Standard monopoly paid their workers well.

you get the idea the whole thing was more for public consumption than private conscience? i agree-theres a lot they could have done better-

Private Mail Delivery in the United States during the Nineteenth Century: A Sketch

lol-the book i read described the disarray of mail delivery at that time and how gould helped organize it...