The Hidden History of Monopolies

How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream

By: Thom Hartmann

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

“This is the most important, dynamic book on the cancers of monopoly by giant corporations written in our generation.” (from the foreword by Ralph Nader, American political activist)

American monopolies dominate, control, and consume most of the energy of our entire economic system; they function the same way as cancer does in a body, and like cancer, they weaken our systems while threatening to crash the entire body economics. American monopolies have also seized massive political power and use it to maintain their obscene profits and CEO salaries while crushing small competitors.

But Thom Hartmann, America’s number one progressive radio host, shows we’ve broken the control of behemoths like these before, and we can do it again.

Hartmann takes us from the birth of America as a revolt against monopoly (remember the Boston Tea Party?), to the largely successful efforts of both Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and other like-minded leaders to restrain corporations’ monopolistic urges, to the massive changes in the rules of business starting during the “Reagan Revolution” that have brought us to the cancer stage of capitalism.

He shows the damage monopolies have done to so many industries: agriculture, healthcare, the media, and more. Individuals have taken a hit as well. The average American family pays a $5,000 a year “monopoly tax” in the form of higher prices for everything, from pharmaceuticals to airfare to household goods and food. But Hartmann also describes commonsense, historically rooted measures we can take - such as revitalizing antitrust regulation, taxing great wealth, and getting money out of politics - to pry control of our country from the tentacles of the monopolists.

©2020 Thom Hartmann (P)2020 Thom Hartmann

Damn, what happened to this country???

This was an eye opener. Also a little depressing, but super informative! I just hope one day this country will wake up. Give this a read and let's get to work!

Excellent and timely

This book provides an excellent and accessible overview of the true problems with neoliberal economic policies with supporting data. It also provides a framework for solving and reversing the dilemmas in an actual business friendly way. A must read for everyone.

excellence book

good read.... I am not a Democrat nor a Republican. Just a free thinking grown adult living in a world that seems to be spinning out of control. This book has good theories and excellent examples of historical view points. Great book for someone wanting to gain a bigger picture of how the American economy has been working the past 100 years.

good book nice to have audio book of hartman stuff

pretty informative
liked learning about that Robert Borque figure.
nice to have Tom Hartman literature on the go.

A must read I highly recommend it.

I really recommend this book to everyone. It's a must read to understand how and why our current economic system is deeply flawed. Our country is so divided and a lot of that is driven by economic insecurity. Companies have pitted us against one another while they benefit.

The root problem

Rarely Will you see the solution to any problem being solved without finding the true root cause. this book does zero in on the root cause to societies problems in modern America.

Woke History of American

It’s too bad that more people have not read his books. This should be a must read in High School Civics Classes. The topics are plentiful and educational.

Truly one of the most informative books I’ve ever read.

Thom is really a genius! He’s done so much research but I feel like the concepts he discussed are very accessible. This book has made my blood boil, but I’m still wondering what I personally can do.

A must read (listen). Honest and Factual

If you care about truth and you want to be informed you need to read/listen to this book.

Conflating monopolies with government power abuse

Leftist Thom Hartmann, with this book, blames all societal problems on monopolies, conflates monopolies with government power abuses, and misappropriates wisdom from the great Adam Smith. This is not an intelligent analysis of the issues, hence does damage to highlighting real problems with monopolies.