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The Lords of Creation: The History of America's 1 Percent (Forbidden Bookshelf) Paperback – October 31, 2017

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 329 ratings
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A “stimulating” account of the capitalists who changed America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, setting the stage for the 1929 crash and Great Depression (Kirkus Reviews).

In the decades following the Civil War, America entered an era of unprecedented corporate expansion, with ultimate financial power in the hands of a few wealthy industrialists who exploited the system for everything it was worth. The Rockefellers, Fords, Morgans, and Vanderbilts were the “lords of creation” who, along with like-minded magnates, controlled the economic destiny of the country, unrestrained by regulations or moral imperatives. Through a combination of foresight, ingenuity, ruthlessness, and greed, America’s giants of industry remolded the US economy in their own image. They established their power and authority, ensuring that they—and they alone—would control the means of production, transportation, energy, and commerce—creating the conditions for the stock market collapse of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed.

As modern society continues to be affected by wealth inequality and cycles of boom and bust, it’s as important as ever to understand the origins of financial disaster, and the policies, practices, and people who bring them on. The Lords of Creation, first published when the catastrophe of the 1930s was still painfully fresh, is a fascinating story of bankers, railroad tycoons, steel magnates, speculators, scoundrels, and robber barons. It is a tale of innovation and shocking exploitation—and a sobering reminder that history can indeed repeat itself.
 
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  1. Book 1 of 27
    Forbidden Bookshelf
  2. Print length
    444 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    October 31, 2017
  6. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1504047877
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1504047876
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Editorial Reviews

Review


“A diligent and perceptive reporter. . . . So much of what he has to say is almost eerie to read [today].” —Forbes

“A grand job—good reading, and a challenge to sound thinking. . . . A thoughtful and stimulating book, which shows careful research into facts and human motives, a thoughtful viewing of cause and effect, and a constructive approach to controversial subjects.” —Kirkus Reviews

About the Author


Frederick Lewis Allen (1890–1954) was born in Boston, studied at Groton, and graduated from Harvard in 1912. He was assistant and associate editor of Harper’s Magazine for eighteen years, then the magazine’s sixth editor in chief for twelve years until his death. In addition to The Lords of Creation, Allen was well known for Only Yesterday, Since Yesterday, and The Big Change. 

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (October 31, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 444 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1504047877
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1504047876
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.16 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 329 ratings

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Frederick Lewis Allen

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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
329 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

shtraus
5.0 out of 5 stars Concentration of power explained
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book is full with information and is brilliantly written. A little difficult read at times.
There is a way to generate income by creating a real value. It takes effort and talent and imagination and inspiration. Much more effective, quicker and powerful way to enrichment is by plundering or stealing from someone who creates a real value. It worked this way since before Roman times. You can check Tacitus: "Annals". The model Morgan applied: to borrow from the public and then let the expanding industry pay off his debt and generate profit was exhausted when the railroad and metal industry reached high noon. So this book takes us to the dawn of the Military Industrial Complex, when Big Money experienced a spike in profits due to the First World War, feeding the carnage in Europe. This model works well.
38 people found this helpful
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A.Morin
5.0 out of 5 stars Very enlightening and really worth reading
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2014
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This book offers insights into the predominent role of financial and corporate elites in the development of the American economy during the early 20th century. Notably, it deals with the relations of these elites with labour and government; the excesses such as corporate pyramiding, extreme leverage, insider dealings and market manipulation that led to the great depression; and the tug-of-war between pro-business laissez-faire on the one hand and government intervention and regulations on the other, particularly during the Roosevelt era. This book reads easily and is still very relevant today. Besides its historical interest, it rings many bells of warning about the current situation. Congratulations to the editors of Forbidden Bookshelf for bringing back this great book.
14 people found this helpful
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mselectromagnetic
4.0 out of 5 stars Read it and weep...
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2014
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I started reading this book because I've heard that economic conditions are very similar right now to those that preceded the famous Wall St. crash of 1929. It's disgusting to note that many of the names that figured prominently in sending the nation into the chaos of the Great Depression are the EXACT same names that are setting us up to fall down again. This book was written a long time ago, so the style seems a bit stilted or stuffy (hence a 4 out of 5), and I don't have patience for long lists of people long dead who should have died in jail for what they did. As a scholarly work, it is above reproach...the research cites a variety of sources, and all conclusions are very well supported by documentation. It is exhausting to read, but it is also a very thorough indictment of the types of ethical and moral compromises invented by a group of business leaders who thought they were entitled to parasitize the American working public.
31 people found this helpful
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Albert
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2014
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An easy-to-read, yet comprehensive, overview of the vast expansion of corporations and finance in the US between the 1890’s and the 1930’s. There are fascinating vignettes of selected “captains of industry and finance”, many of whom were born into poverty but had the skill and the drive to learn the financial tricks and became billionaires. Financial malpractice was egregious and rampant and lead directly and repeatedly to economic crises. Lessons learned, if any, were soon forgotten or ignored. Today, in 2014, one can see the same self-serving financial greed in action. Excessive speculation in dubious financial instruments follows a pattern similar to the excesses of the 1920’s.
20 people found this helpful
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margaret
3.0 out of 5 stars Another view of the power of business in social conduct.
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2017
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When we look at how big business views it's role in US capitalism, the view is uncomfortable at best. This book technically provides insight as to the methods the super rich and influential control the economies of the world. Their enrichment is all that matters. This book is a good study on what is going on right now in 2017 with the tax codes changes being proposed by congress.
4 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book!
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2012
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A detailed account of the financial expansion in the U.S. from the 1890's up to the Depression. In spite of the complexities of this subject Allen manages to make it understandable and interesting. There are so many similarities to what is happening in our country today that it should be a must read for everyone. I'll be saving this one for future reading and reference. Allen was such a gifted historical writer, if you have any interest in this period of time in American history then read all of Allen's books, you won't be disappointed.
46 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars So much greed
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2021
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It is amazing how a fairly small number of people can have such a huge impact on a nation by their insatiable desire to have more and more.
One person found this helpful
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David Shulman
4.0 out of 5 stars "The 1%" 100 Years Ago
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2014
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This is far from Frederick Lewis Allen’s best books. “Only Yesterday,” his social history of the 1920s was his best and “Since Yesterday,” his history of the 1930s and “The Big Change,” his social history of the first half of the 20th Century come pretty close. Nevertheless if readers want to get a real flavor of the big business and high finance milieu in America from 1900-1930, “The Lords of Creation” does a credible, if biased, job. You see the House of Morgan, the other New York bankers, the railroad magnates and the new Wall Street men of the 1920s in full flower. They were “the 1%” of that era. He vividly illustrates the stock manipulation that was almost taken for granted and the way commercial banking was integrated with investment banking though affiliated organizations. Those abuses led to the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 and the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.

Remember Allen wrote his book from the vantage point of 1935. In the popular imagination big business and big finance were the leading players in causing the depression the nation was then experiencing. To him and President Roosevelt the causes of the depression were domestic in origin. We have since learned as President Hoover thought at the time, that the depression had its origins in the dislocations caused by World War I and the transmission of deflation through the workings of the gold standard.

My criticism of the book is that Allen only pays lip service to the very real improvements in the living standard of the average American from 1900-1929. Unlike today real wages were consistently rising and we saw in the 1920s the glimmers of the kind of prosperity that occurred in the 1950s.

One last point, I would avoid the very snarky introduction to this edition written by New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson.
21 people found this helpful
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JRS
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on December 1, 2017
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A great, terrifying book
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly timely
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2019
Verified Purchase
Despite being published more than 80 years ago it wouldn't take much editing to make this read like a contemporary commentary. The prose is a tad old fashioned but if you replace references to steel and rail conglomerates with big tech and social media companies .. As for pyramiding, holding companies etc we have the panama papers and other such leaks as confirmation that times change but the tricks and techniques in the business world stay the same.
7 people found this helpful
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Tremere
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent livre qui explique très bien ce que peu bien peu savent
Reviewed in France on January 13, 2018
Verified Purchase
Très bon livre qui expliquent qui contrôle le monde avec des documents prouvant les dires de l'auteur, ainsi que des explications claires, que toutes personnes cultivées sait plus ou moins, mais là, c'est clair et précis, expliqué dans toute sa complexité. Il faut savoir que ce livre a été caché (mais non interdit) par le gouvernement américain : je l'ai découvert à grâce un professeur d'économie de l'université de Columbia aux USA, qui montrait sur RT TV, les cinq livres les plus importants (pour le gouvernement) qui étaient cachés au grand public, car trop gênant : j'ai donc acheté un de ceux-là, avant qu'il ne disparaisse complètement de la distribution. Amazon a déjà retiré 76 livres révisionnistes gênants pour la communauté juive, suite à leurs pressions ; maintenant Amazon va lentement retirer d'autres livres gênants : achetez-le avant qu'il ne soit trop tard... La liberté d'expression commence à disparaître partout (le dernier rapport international sur ce sujet rapporte que la France est un des pays dont la liberté d'expression est la plus réprimé au monde !!), et la Censure ne cesse de grandir partout (Google, Youtube, Facebook, et même Amazon...).
One person found this helpful
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Roger Turner
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Reviewed in Germany on April 25, 2016
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Eye-opening review of the way that the rich get rich and stay that way, usually at the expense of the rest of us...
One person found this helpful
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Joanne Sandra Russo
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Australia on November 8, 2014
Verified Purchase
A clear, easy-to-understand book about finance. Fascinating recent history
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