Suggested Readings: Business Success

Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
By Victor K. McElheny
ISBN: 0738200093

"From those amazing instant cameras to spy planes and satellites, the found of Polaroid lived one of the great creative and entrepreneurial success stories of our age. This masterful biography tells that story in enthralling detail. I found myself completely caught up. — Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atom Bomby."

James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest
By Albro Martin
ISBN: 0873512618

"Martin offers conclusive evidence that Hill knew how to build the best railroads in America and how to run them better than any other manager in the country." — Joseph F. Wall, Journal of American History

The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets, 1798-1848
By Niall Ferguson
ISBN: 0670857688

Niall Ferguson's book is a brilliant and authoritative reconstruction of the world of the family that really invented the bond market—and inspired a powerful and insidious mythology about the forces of finance capitalism. It is a great read. — Harold James, Professor of History, Princeton University

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
By Ron Chernow
ISBN:0679438084

Chernow labors mightily to set Standard's commercial accomplishments reasonably straight. He identifies correctly the factors that account for the early growth of the firm (entrepreneurship, economies of scale, technological innovation) and its ability to maintain market leadership. He also identifies correctly the changing market conditions at the turn of the century that eroded Standard's market share prior to the antitrust suits. Indeed, Chernow even admits that the subsequent legal actions may have been "superfluous." —D.T. Armentano, author of Antitrust and Monopoly: Anatomy of a Policy Failure