The Hidden History of Monopolies, Thom Hartmann
The Hidden History of Monopolies, Thom Hartmann
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The Hidden History of Monopolies
How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream

Author: Thom Hartmann, Ralph Nader

Narrator: Sean Pratt

Unabridged: 4 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 08/25/2020


Synopsis

"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

The biggest problem facing America and the world right now is "bigness." Our industrial and economic sectors-from tech, retail, and media to agriculture, food, and more-are so big that they're beyond the control of citizens, consumers, or the government (in fact, they've captured the latter). Similarly, the billionaire class has gotten so big in terms of wealth that its members have easily corrupted our politics to direct more and more of the nation's wealth and resources to themselves. But America was birthed in a revolt against a monopoly-remember the British East India Company and the Boston Tea Party? If Jefferson and Madison could see how government and business collude today, they'd weep. Hartmann explores how the intentions of the Founders were thwarted and describes commonsense, historically rooted measures we can take-such as revitalizing antitrust regulation, taxing great wealth, and getting money out of politics-to wrest control of our country from the monopolists.

About Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents. Hartmann is also an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics.

The cofounder (with his wife, Louise) and former Executive Director of The New England Salem Children's Village (1978) and The Hunter School (1997), he has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children.

He has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and refugee centers in India, Uganda, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and the United States through the German-based Salem International program. Formerly rostered with the State of Vermont as a psychotherapist, founder of The Michigan Healing Arts Center, and licensed as an NLP Trainer by Richard Bandler (who wrote the foreword to one of Thom's books), he was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).

A guest faculty member at Goddard College in Vermont, he also synthesized the "Younger/Older Culture model" for describing the underpinnings-and possible solutions-to the world's ecological and socio-political crises, suggesting that many of our problems are grounded in cultural "stories" which go back thousands of years.

Leonardo DiCaprio was inspired by Thom's book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight to make the movie "The 11th Hour" (in which Thom appears), and a series of environmental videos narrated by Hartmann and DiCaprio, available at Green World Rising.

Talkers Magazine named Thom Hartmann as the most important progressive talk show host in America for the past decade, and for three of the past five years the #1 most important progressive host, in their "Heavy Hundred" ranking. His radio show is syndicated on for-profit radio stations nationwide by WYD Media, on non-profit and community stations nationwide by Pacifica, across the entire North American continent on SiriusXM Satellite radio, on cable systems nationwide by Cable Radio Network (CRN) and Free Speech TV, on its own YouTube channel, via subscription podcasts, worldwide through the US American Forces Network, and through the Thom Hartmann App in the App Store. The radio show is also simulcast as TV in realtime into nearly 60 million US and Canadian homes by the Free Speech TV Network on Dish Network, DirectTV, and cable TV systems nationwide.

As an entrepreneur, he's founded several successful businesses which still are operating, and lived and worked with his wife, Louise, and their three (now adult) children on several continents.

He was born and grew up in Michigan, and retains strong ties to the Midwest, although he and Louise have lived in New Hampshire, Vermont, Georgia, Germany, Washington DC, and Oregon.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Charlie on March 06, 2021

Excellent succinct introduction to the topic. I must have read 5 or so books on monopolies in the past couple of years. This and Zephyr Teachout's "Break 'Em Up" are the two I'd recommend for non-specialists, activists and others who want an accessible overview with lots of references to dive in dee......more

Goodreads review by Zach on October 05, 2023

Wow this was such a great read.. I have such a loathing for corporate America and i can tell this guy does too. He made it easy to understand legal and economic issues regarding monopolies for someone with little knowledge in the subjects, which is so amazing because it makes this information access......more

Goodreads review by Critter on November 02, 2020

I thought that this was an interesting read. It was a short read but was filled with lots of research. However, it could have been better if the information was bulked up instead of feeling like the topics were being skimmed over. I also would have liked more of the information to be shown visually......more

Goodreads review by Omar on October 18, 2022

The content is too politically motivated by a democrats mind, some points are relevant, but not sure replacing monopoly by a government monopoly is what we need?......more

Goodreads review by Michael on April 17, 2021

This is my second book in the Thom Hartmann, Hidden History of, series of books. Again, there is a lot of info in the little book. From the intro, Cancer and Monopoly and the killing of creativity and competition. To the founding of this country based on resistance to monopolies. Monopoly and fascis......more