Essays Toward a Historical Theory of Big Business

Essays Toward a Historical Theory of Big Business

the birth of “big business”

 

 

Book review:

The Essential Alfred Chandler:

Essays Toward a Historical Theory of Big Business

 

by Alfred D. Chandler Jr. (1918-2007)

Boston: The Harvard Business School Press, 1988

538 pages

 

Chandler offers a deep and dispassionate inquiry into the genesis of “big business” and the “big multinational corporation” in the latter part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

There’s much of interest here, even for the casual student of history and the “non-business” types.

Much of the motivation and much of the opportunity for the development of what Chandler chooses to call the “modern business enterprise” was circumstantial and related to geography and the exigencies of human and animal labor.

The author chooses to avoid the legal/illegal, moral, and philosophical aspects of the rise of big business, and the vastly maldistributed benefits of the same.

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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

iambic pentameter, y’know?

da DUH, da DUH, and stuff…

“In search of”…my poem

click here

As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

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“…fill one’s life with meaning…”…The Chosen (quote)

“…fill one’s life with meaning…”…The Chosen (quote)

for life to have meaning

 

 

“A man must fill his life with meaning,

meaning is not automatically given in life.

It is hard work to fill one’s life with meaning.”

 

from The Chosen

by Chaim Potok

New York: Fawcett Crest, 1967

pp. 204-205

 

Here’s one approach: do a good thing every day.

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: Ethan Frome

not being satisfied with less…

by Edith Wharton

click here

As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

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“…you show good heart”…”empathic,” my poem

“…you show good heart”…”empathic,” my poem

joy uplifts each dance

 

 

empathic

 

I think of you in a new way…

 

you are one of the greeters,

you help the new ones to find old friends,

you freely give so many smiles,

sing the tunes that fill the air,

you sway with rhythms

   that join so many spirits

      and spin so many steps,

you show good heart

   when easy joy uplifts each dance,

stepping up to the awkward ones

   to tell the secret words of love

      that all can share,

you lead the way

   to radiant halls

      and precious gardens

         where all can stand together

            and make so much music

               that never stops…

 

June 20, 2023

For my dearest one

 

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: Cold Mountain

by Charles Frazier, he reaches deep…

click here

As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

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Emperor of the North…movie review

Emperor of the North…movie review

ya gotta have heart!

 

 

Emperor of the North

(1973, rated PG, 118 minutes)

 

Emperor of the North is a heroic film.

They don’t make too many like this one.

If you plan to watch it, do yourself a favor: plan to watch it twice.

Watch it once so you get the picture: a tramp named A No. 1 (Lee Marvin) is a devil-may-care legendary figure in the hobo camps. He teaches a thing or three to the inexperienced Cigaret (Keith Carradine). He challenges the thuggish railroad policeman, Shack (Ernest Borgnine), there’s a supremely brutal fight on a rolling flatcar, the best ‘bo wins, he finally rides Shack’s “No. 19” to Portland, and, you guessed it, A No. 1 is the king of the road.

Sounds like a few of the “B” movies you’ve seen over the years?

All routinely imaginable stuff, but Marvin’s imperial performance stirs the imagination.

Watch it again. Watch Mr. Marvin show you everything you ever wanted to know about classic heroism of the spirit. See him surpassing his impoverished circumstances to enjoy a rich life, embracing independence, rugged optimism, casually competent leadership, generous mentoring, and the dauntless strength of a Viking in mortal combat.

Finally, A No. 1 abandons the feckless Cigaret. “You had the juice, kid, but you didn’t have the heart!”

A No. 1 rides off, northward, soaring, in high majesty, singing his victory.

American hobo.

American hero.

Emperor of the North.

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Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: The Financier

Theodore Dreiser’s villain…

click here

As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

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“…the new curve of the dune…”…”Amaze,” my poem

“…the new curve of the dune…”…”Amaze,” my poem

this end, the one…

 

 

 

Amaze

 

Countless possible beginnings,

uncounted possible turns of each one,

the one end seems finally certain…

 

This creature on the sand,

forlorn, lifeless,

this end the one, it seems…

 

Still.

 

It will change.

Decay?

A careless word,

a haughty view,

a narrow disdain,

ignoble, incurious.

 

If life is the course of change

in consequence of itself,

with no limit,

then this creature,

mutely changing now,

may yet have futures…

 

We do no harm to give it leave to linger,

and respect its changing prospect

for moments more,

and leave it

to walk around the new curve of the dune…

 

Chatham, Cape Cod, MA

June 15, 2000

My poem “Amaze” was published in my sixth collection of 73 poems, Above all: Poems of dawn and more.

You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle),

or get it free in Kindle Unlimited (search for “Richard Carl Subber”).

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: Tales from Shakespeare

summaries by Charles and Mary Lamb…

click here

As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

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