Rating: 
Summary: 20th century was forgotten by the author
Review: "Money & Power" is an interesting book about the men that made significant contributions to the history of business since St. Godric. However, the 20th century is not accurately represented in the book. Basically, "Money & Power" forgot the contribution that japanese entrepreneurs like Eiji Toyoda (and his famous Toyota Production System) made to the industrial manufacturing. The book also superficially reviewed the computer technology/telecommunication revolution that has been modyfing the business world since the 70's (although there is a chapter dedicated to Bill Gates). eCommerce is not even mentioned in the book.
Rating:
Summary: 20th century was forgotten by the author
Review: "Money & Power" is an interesting book about the men that made significant contributions to the history of business since St. Godric. However, the 20th century is not accurately represented in the book. Basically, "Money & Power" forgot the contribution that japanese entrepreneurs like Eiji Toyoda (and his famous Toyota Production System) made to the industrial manufacturing. The book also superficially reviewed the computer technology/telecommunication revolution that has been modyfing the business world since the 70's (although there is a chapter dedicated to Bill Gates). eCommerce is not even mentioned in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: "Definitive and Representative" Personalities
Review: Frankly, I did not know what to expect as I began to read this book. (The use of "The" in the subtitle is somewhat misleading.) Having read it, I consider this to be among the most enjoyable as well as most informative books about business I have read in recent years. Referring to a collaboration with David Grubin to produce a CNBC documentary, Means explains that "we followed the money to the personalities -- both definitive and representative -- that have dominated the last thousand years of business, and to some of the most defining and colorful events of the millennium." The personalities are Sir Godric, Cosimo de' Medici, Philip II, those involved with "Tulipmania", James Watt and Matthew Boulton, those involved with the Transcontinental Railway, J. Pierpont Morgan, John D.. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Robert Woodruff, the key players involved in the merger which created Time Warner, and Bill Gates. Here are brief comments by Means on a few of the individuals and situations which are the focus of his attention throughout this book:"Born at a time when capital accumulation for the peasantry was nearly unthinkable, [Godric] was nonetheless a model of modern wealth creation: an up-from-the-bootstraps capitalist who transformed the hand fate had dealt him." "Cosimo helped to create a world that revolved not around God but around a society with man at the center. After five hundred years, power was shifting from the men of the Church to the men of business." "Gifted with unprecedented mineral wealth, [Philip} had set out to reverse the flow of history rather than look forward and embrace growth, and history has judged him accordingly." "James Watt is known to us as the father of the Industrial Revolution, and indeed the steam engine he brought to such perfection is the [italics] defining invention of the movement....He needed a partner [Boulton] to transform his genius into a product and to bring the product to a market where fortunes were waiting to be made....The steam engine [developed by Watt and promoted by Boulton] that would power the first locomotive would radically alter transportation across England and throughout Europe. Across the ocean, it would even pull a continent together. But its invention and manufacture would be left to other minds and hands." "Throughout the last millennium, it was control that created fortunes: control over the oceans or railroads, the highways or the airwaves. At the start of the new millennium, it's still control -- this time over cyberspace, the new wealth machine. Some things never change but here's the difference: This road to riches is open to everyone." I include these brief excerpts to suggest both the style and thrust of Means's presentation of material. As Grubin correctly points out in the Foreword, "Scientists and politicians, artists and scholars, all contributed to the millennium of change, but the world's businessmen -- its bankers and industrialists, merchants and entrepreneurs -- were a powerful driving force behind the stunning transformation." Means is to be commended for so skillfully guiding his reader through this immensely interesting process. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Mokyr's The Lever of Riches.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly Enjoyable
Review: I found this a thoroughly enjoyable book. It is an easy read without being superficial. The writers focus mostly on American business--Morgan, Rockefeller, Ford and Gates--with emphasis on their money-making schemes & abilities. These are not "tell-all" biographical sketches. The writers never lose sight of their overall theme: money and power and how the two blend together. I would have liked more historical analysis (such is my bias). I found the chapter on Tulipmania fascinating (it is also the first time I have ever really understood Futures Trading). For anyone who finds economics and business an elusive mystery, this is an excellent starting point. (Also check out P.J. O'Rourke's Eat the Rich.)
Rating:
Summary: An interesting way to write business history
Review: I was never able to see the CNBC program to which this book is the companion, although i would be greatly ineterested in watching it now. The author, rather than outlining a boring, start to finish business history book used an inventive means of describing multiple stories of individuals and large scale events. He was not afraid to use poeple who are not well known nor scared to paint a different picture of the well known. The book covered the transitions between era's in a compelling way by shifting the focus on the newest trend in every era. While this ranged from money lending in the time of Medici to trading during Tulipmania to Creating and building during the industrial revolution, the reader can understand the era with the historical backdrop as well understand the trends in business evolution through the personal stories. The author is also not afraid to write positive and negative comments about various historical figures. He does not show a positive bias like many historians. I felt this book presented the most intersting business history of any book I have read. It is also able to be read chapter by chapter individually becaus ethe chapters, although they refer to past events in some, are mostly separate stories. if you are interested in business history, this should be the first book you pick up. I guarantee you will have a different perspective on many individuals and learn a great deal about some you have never heard of.
Rating:
Summary: The History of Human Liberation from Superstitions
Review: Money & Power is a lively introductory look at how modern business grew and developed. This well-researched book outlines the history of industry, commerce and power. This summary of the History of Business portrays the figure of an Entrepreneur as a real Creator of the future. The greatest problem that business people faced in Christian Europe was that profit-making was considered sinful, because Jesus drove away money-changers from a temple (As you know, temples in the Middle East were used as banks before Christ, because it was the safest place to keep treasures.) And in Orthodox Russia the problem was absolutely the same, though Russian Orthodox monasteries were producing vodka and earning interest on borrowed money even in 14th century. This book is organized around 12 chapters. Each chapter highlights one person or event in business history. The book presents an inside view of the step-by-step history of business and its development over the years as history of liberation from ideological dogmata, superstition and prejudice. The story begins from the 12th century monk St. Godric. A final chapter on Bill Gates and Microsoft heralds the current age, in which "the road to riches is open to everyone." And everybody, who wants, must be rich. Now it is available for everyone. It is obvious today that entrepreneur is the most creative person making the most creative work in the world. Sure, I especially enjoyed the sections on JP Morgan and Bill Gates. The book was recently translated into Russian. Recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: The History of Human Liberation from Superstitions
Review: Money & Power is a lively introductory look at how modern business grew and developed. This well-researched book outlines the history of industry, commerce and power. This summary of the History of Business portrays the figure of an Entrepreneur as a real Creator of the future. The greatest problem that business people faced in Christian Europe was that profit-making was considered sinful, because Jesus drove away money-changers from a temple (As you know, temples in the Middle East were used as banks before Christ, because it was the safest place to keep treasures.) And in Orthodox Russia the problem was absolutely the same, though Russian Orthodox monasteries were producing vodka and earning interest on borrowed money even in 14th century. This book is organized around 12 chapters. Each chapter highlights one person or event in business history. The book presents an inside view of the step-by-step history of business and its development over the years as history of liberation from ideological dogmata, superstition and prejudice. The story begins from the 12th century monk St. Godric. A final chapter on Bill Gates and Microsoft heralds the current age, in which "the road to riches is open to everyone." And everybody, who wants, must be rich. Now it is available for everyone. It is obvious today that entrepreneur is the most creative person making the most creative work in the world. Sure, I especially enjoyed the sections on JP Morgan and Bill Gates. The book was recently translated into Russian. Recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING AND MIND-GRABBING!
Review: The book presents an inside view of the history of business and its development over the years. From the 12th century monk, St. Godric to Bill Gates and Microsoft, this well-researched book outlines the history of industry, commerce and power. As a counsellor and teacher of business management, I will highly recommend this literary masterpiece to my students. Before we can advance in industry and commerce, it is equally important to understand the roots...where and how it all began. Who wouldn't be captivated by the Rothschilds or Robert Woodruff and Coca-Cola? My only regret is that the book ended all too soon. There are other mega empires that are not mentioned here - maybe there will be a sequel to this book in the future.
Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING AND MIND-GRABBING!
Review: The book presents an inside view of the history of business and its development over the years. From the 12th century monk, St. Godric to Bill Gates and Microsoft, this well-researched book outlines the history of industry, commerce and power. As a counsellor and teacher of business management, I will highly recommend this literary masterpiece to my students. Before we can advance in industry and commerce, it is equally important to understand the roots...where and how it all began. Who wouldn't be captivated by the Rothschilds or Robert Woodruff and Coca-Cola? My only regret is that the book ended all too soon. There are other mega empires that are not mentioned here - maybe there will be a sequel to this book in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: This volume, based on a PBS documentary, is as much about the unique characters who drove the evolution of business as it is about vast historic trends. Author Howard Means blends the color of a cinematic treatment with the rich context and detail of a comprehensive history. In so doing, he's accomplished the ultimate historian's goal: Presenting history in such a way that it is clearly relevant to modern-day life, and in this case, business. From biblical moneychangers to the miraculously large pool of Microsoft millionaires, Means traces the history of commerce from the perspective of power, asking who acquired it, how they amassed it, how they used it and what became of it? We [...] recommend his intense narrative to anyone in business, since business is about money, and money is, after all, power.
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