Analysis of the Tycoons: How Carnegie, Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy

The Book, Tycoons by Charles Morris, is one of the majorly read books in the history of the United States. The books purpose is to provide an in-depth and detailed analysis of a relatively narrowly defined subject of the invention of the American super economy. Notably, the author has succeeded in revising several greater insights regarding the manner in which some of the personalities such as the Carnegie, Rockefeller and Gould and Morgan stimulated the invention of the American Supereconomy. As evident, Morris tactfully gathers a substantial portion of the academic and anecdotal research with the aim of showing that Carnegie, Rockefeller, Gould and Morgan played crucial roles in establishing the modern US economy that we see. Fundamentally, Morris uses the information from other sources to explain the entire lives of Carnegie and Rockefeller and the ways they emerged to transform the United States. Morris mentions that people like Rockefeller and Carnegie entirely used their brains and guts to achieve the riches and wealth, as opposed to other methods such as theft that has been widely utilized by some individuals to obtain riches in the United States. He also notes that they did not earn their wealth from the spilled blood of their workers and labourers.

Throughout the book, Morris uses substantial evidence to reveal the truth about the real heroes of the American Industrial Revolution. He explicitly mentions that the four men who stimulated this revolution were not his featured audience, but the American people. Ideally, Morris does better and becomes helpful in enhancing the topics understanding through the review or analysis of the vast secondary literature on the structure of development in the nineteenth century. In this way, he gets the opportunity to give the enlightening insights about the place of technology and innovation in the Americas economic growth. For instance, he uses substantial evidence from Levere of Riches book by Joel Mokyrs. Morris acknowledges that Rockefellers notorious predatory pricing played significant roles in driving away his competitors to ruin. At this point, he offers evidence from the McClures Magazine about Rockefellers dastard actions. In this piece of article, Ida Tarbell mentions that her fathers small refinery was undermined by the Rockefellers Standard Oil.

As part of his strategy, Rockefeller was able to offer compensation for the companies he purchased and undercut the cost through carrying out a brilliant increase of the prices. Ideally, he was able to transform the American economy by beating his competitors, particularly through building pipelines and manufacturing his barrels. Further, Morris uses considerable evidence to portray both Carnegie and Gould as the brilliant businessmen but less exploitatively honest than Rockefeller. For instance, he mentions that Carnegie tirelessly focused on the lower steel costs and tremendously utilized the Scottish thriftiness to control the American steel industry. Fascinatingly, Carnegie Steel finally overpowered all other steel manufacturers in other parts of the world such as the Britain and other American Manufacturers. Still, in regard to documentation and research, it becomes evident that Morris has used evidence from his other publications to provide insights on the topic apparently.

Regarding the coherence of the book, Morris has failed to provide clear and logical information and therefore makes it difficult for the readers interpret and understand what is being discussed. A closer look at the shows that it is somewhat disjointed and the organization of the information from one part does not seem to fit the following parts. While reading the book, one would realize that from biographical tales of the tycoons to the development of the industrial economy in the United States. Besides, the professional management development has also been discussed from a wide perspective. While it is evident that Morris grounds his knowledge and information from various sources of evidence, it is worth noting that readers may get lost. At some point, others may be required to read through three substantial sections before realizing and understanding what the author is trying to talk about in the previous sections.

Despite the fact that this ambiguity exists in the book, Morris has succeeded in providing a proper organization at some point and the subsequent portion of the book. On a broader note, he explicitly provides valuable information in a more organized manner about the ways in which the four individuals invested heavily in their businesses, increased efficiency and, subsequently, brought down consumer prices for the benefits of the entire American economy. More generally, he provides some important notes towards a particular analytical tool required to understand both the successes and the dangers of the economy and does this at the end of his story. An engaging portion of the book is where Morris recognizes that through the antagonism and the verve of the four businessmen, Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Gould succeeded inbuilt an incredibly industrial behemoth that extended the American economy to achieve its modern outlook.

Regarding the authors thematic issues or central thesis, it is undeniable that Morris has apparently provided an illustration of the introductory part of the book. Readers can understand various themes such as substantial business investment, increased efficiency, and lowering of the consumer prices for the benefits of the entire American economy. However, the books main point or thesis is based on the manner in which the American tycoons invented the Americas Supereconomy through their business activities. In this sense, therefore, Morris argues and recognizes that Rockefeller, Carnegie and their colleagues entirely used their brains and guts to achieve the riches and wealth, as opposed to other methods such as theft that has been widely utilized by some individuals to obtain riches in the United States.

Morris credentials and bias on the subject increases the credibility of the information he has provided throughout the book. Notably, he is the author of various books such as American Catholic, Money, Greed and Risks, the Two Trillion Dollar Meltdown and the comeback among others. He is a former banker and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic Monthly. In my opinion, his vast experience as an author and journalist earn him credit to effectively address issues and topics such the emergence of the America Supereconomy, economic growth, business investments, and finally the biographical information of the four American tycoons. Nonetheless, he also appears in the 2010 Oscar-winning documentary film known as the inside job. It is through this vast experience that the readers can know that the Americans modern economy was the creation of four men that included Carnegie, Rockefeller, Gould, and Morgan as Morris writes.

Morris work seems to target a tremendously large number of people. A closer look at the book shows that it was designed as a general survey for the information of the average reader. Individuals from industrial sectors, businesses, investments organizations and manufacturing sectors can obtain significant and valuable knowledge from the book and consequently prosper economically.

In general, I feel that Morris work has tremendously provided me with certain valuable insights on the history of the United States, regarding the emergence of its Supereconomy. The books logical organization facilitates the evolution of different thematic issues such as the business and information management, financial operation, economic growth, and investments patterns. More specifically, the author provides some important notes towards a particular analytical tool required to understand both the successes and the dangers of the economy. However, I was disappointed by some of the disjoint observed at some points within the book. For instance, the organization of the information from one part does not seem to fit the following parts. While reading the book, one would realize that from biographical tales of the tycoons to the development of the industrial economy in the United States. A severe confusion may, therefore, emerge on the part of the reader. Despite all these loopholes, I can still recommend this book to different categories of people, particularly those who are business and development-oriented.

Bibliography

Morris, Charles R. 2006. The tycoons: how Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J.P. Morgan invented the American supereconomy. https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=8C85A5C6-25D2-4E26-90C4-C2A6066BB375.

Mokyr, Joel. 1990. The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=694032