Hardcover. NY, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 270 pages. When Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, he was tall, gangly, and penniless. When he died in the grandest house in New Orleans sixty-nine years later, he was among the richest, most powerful men in the world. In between, he worked as a fruit peddler, a banana hauler, a dockside hustler, and a plantation owner. He battled and conquered the United Fruit Company, becoming a symbol of the best and worst of the United States: proof that America is the land of opportunity, but also a classic example of the corporate pirate who treats foreign nations as the backdrop for his adventures. Rich Cohen's brilliant historical profile unveils Zemurray as a hidden kingmaker and capitalist revolutionary, driven by an indomitable will to succeed. Clean copy.
Hardcover. San Francisco, Encounter Books, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 222 pages. SIGNED BY AUTHOR ON HALF TITLE PAGE. Clean, unmarked copy. Black and white pictures in center. Goodyear was an entrepreneur who actually made good on the ever-popular claim that his company would change the world. Korman, senior editor of Engineering News-Record, dryly traces the life of the rubber pioneer and American industrial legend in this part scientific history lesson and part American business story. Goodyear (1800-1860) became an inventor not out of any great scientific thirst; he was self-taught and wanted to make money. He earned success, but endured continual patent monopoly battles and numerous trips to debtors' prison as he steadfastly and compulsively held onto his dream of using rubber to change just about every aspect of life. (According to Korman, Goodyear frequently wore a coat made of rubber in his early inventing days to underscore the versatility of his product.) Korman waxes scientific at times, offering in-depth descriptions of how Goodyear cooked rubber and sulfur compounds, yet his technical discourses are not so esoteric that they will turn away amateurs. His book is also valuable for its accurate portrayal of factory life in the 1830s and '40s; his accounts of the aproned men who chopped rubber with axes and knives and the machines that ground it are lively examples of industrial age America. Clean copy.
Hardcover. San Francisco, Encounter Books, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 222 pages. Clean, unmarked copy. Black and white pictures in center. Goodyear was an entrepreneur who actually made good on the ever-popular claim that his company would change the world. Korman, senior editor of Engineering News-Record, dryly traces the life of the rubber pioneer and American industrial legend in this part scientific history lesson and part American business story. Goodyear (1800-1860) became an inventor not out of any great scientific thirst; he was self-taught and wanted to make money. He earned success, but endured continual patent monopoly battles and numerous trips to debtors' prison as he steadfastly and compulsively held onto his dream of using rubber to change just about every aspect of life. (According to Korman, Goodyear frequently wore a coat made of rubber in his early inventing days to underscore the versatility of his product.) Korman waxes scientific at times, offering in-depth descriptions of how Goodyear cooked rubber and sulfur compounds, yet his technical discourses are not so esoteric that they will turn away amateurs. His book is also valuable for its accurate portrayal of factory life in the 1830s and '40s; his accounts of the aproned men who chopped rubber with axes and knives and the machines that ground it are lively examples of industrial age America. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Hill & Wang, 3rd pr., 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 358 pages, b&w illustrations. From modest beginnings as a tea shop, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company became the largest retailer in the world. It was a juggernaut, with nearly sixteen thousand stores. But its explosive growth made it a mortal threat to mom-and-pop grocery stores across the nation. Main Street fought back tooth and nail, leading the Hoover, Roosevelt, and Truman administrations to investigate the Great A&P. In a remarkable court case, the government pressed criminal charges against the company for selling food too cheaply-and won. The acclaimed historian Marc Levinson tells the story of a struggle between small business and big business that tore America apart. George and John Hartford took over their father's business and reshaped it again and again, turning it into a vertically integrated behemoth that paved the way for every big-box retailer to come. George demanded a rock-solid balance sheet; John was the marketer-entrepreneur who led A&P through seven decades of rapid changes. Together, they set the stage for the modern consumer economy by turning an archaic retail industry into a highly efficient system for distributing food at low cost. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Liveright, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Years before Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris electrified the nation, a group of daredevil pilots, most of them veterans of the World War I, brought aviation to the masses by competing in the sensational transcontinental air race of 1919. The contest awakened Americans to the practical possibilities of flight, yet despite its significance, it has until now been all but forgotten. In The Great Air Race, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America. His thrilling chronicle opens with the race's impresario, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who believed the nation's future was in the skies. Mitchell's contest--critics called it a stunt--was a risky undertaking, given that the DH-4s and Fokkers the contestants flew were almost comically ill-suited for long-distance travel: engines caught fire in flight; crude flight instruments were of little help in clouds and fog; and the brake-less planes were prone to nosing over on landing. The race was a test of endurance that many pilots didn't finish: some dropped out from sheer exhaustion, while others, betrayed by their engines or their instincts, perished. For all its tragedy, Lancaster argues, the race galvanized the nation to embrace the technology of flight. A thrilling tale of men and their machines, The Great Air Race offers a new origin point for commercial aviation in the United States. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1st, 1928, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, tan cloth with dark blue lettering, 293 pages. Early book on Adolph Zuckor & the pioneer days of the motion picture industry. 15 photos. Zukor was a Hungarian-American who produced one of the first feature-length films (The Prisoner of Zenda, 1913) and was one of the three founders of Paramount Studios. The book covers his rise from nickelodeon arcades to the heights of Hollywood. No dust jacket. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Viking, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 521 pages, b&w photos. A biography of the Russian Jewish emigrant who introduced American audiences to ballet and brought live music, dance, and theater to small towns discusses his work in Moscow and his work with Isadora Duncan, Marian Anderson, Nureyev, and other greats. Remainder line to bottom edge otherwise clean.
Softcover. Blue Mountain Lake NY, Adirondack Museum, 2nd pr., 1976, Softcover, 28 pages, b&w illustrations. A history of a mining enterprise started in 1826 in the Adirondack Mountains that went from business failure to success in the 1940s. Light tanning to covers, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. Hoboken NJ, John Wiley, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 367 pages, with illustrations. Like Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Marshall Field was one of the overlords of capitalism in the Gilded Age of the late 19th C. His wealth and philanthropy masked a disastrous personal life. Alienated from his children, deserted by his wife, he left a legacy of immense wealth and misery. This multigenerational saga of money, madness, and mystery tells a Jekyll-and-Hyde story of American capitalism--a tale of drive and nerve and moral stumbles. Clean copy.
Softcover. NY, National Railway Publication Company, 1939, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, original printed paper wrappers, 1536 pages. Thick handbook for the railroad steamboat trade, with detailed schedules, maps, advertisements, all pertaining to the shipment of goods. Printed on thin, cheap stock that's tanning. Still very good wth clear tape reinforcement to spine.
Hardcover. NY, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1st, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 590 pages. Investigative reporting exposes the oil companies' complete control over the supplies and shortages during the 1970s. Clean copy.
Softcover. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1st pbk., 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 283 pages. George Grayson examines the influence of oil and the oil sector both within Mexican society and in its relations with other nations, as he traces the development of the oil industry from its beginnings in 1901 up until the 1980s. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Fort Worth,TX, P&T Publishing Co., 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, History and Development of Printing Presses from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 297 pages plus index and glossary. B&w illustrations. Previous owner's name and date on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 347 pages. In this first biography focusing on John Hammond, the charismatic American music producer is brought to life by journalist Dunston Prial. Hammond was renowned for his ability to spot new talent, introducing the world to some of most gifted musicians of early jazz- Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and Charlie Christian. Then, as jazz gave way to pop and rock, Hammond staged an amazing second act discovering Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. 'The Producer' covers Hammond's entire story from his heyday as a music producer to his privileged upbringing as a Vanderbilt. This is a story of an American music in all its rough-edged vitality. Clean copy.
Softcover. NY, Harper Torchbooks, reprint, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 302 pages. This book presents the historical setting of the industrial revolution in a form suitable for the general reader. It seeks to explain why 18th-century England was the theatre of the great series of mechanical inventions that caused the revolution, and what were the great social changes that preceded, accompanied and followed it. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 335 pages. In a society where trust is in short supply and democracy weak, the Mafia sells protection, a guarantee of safe conduct for parties to commercial transactions. Drawing on the confessions of eight Mafiosi, Diego Gambetta develops an elegant analysis of the economic and political role of the Sicilian Mafia. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Two large hardcovers in a slipcase, 512 pages. The Story of Marvel Studios is the first-ever, fully authorized, all-access history of Marvel Studios' creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as told by the producers, writers, directors, concept artists, VFX artists, cast, and crew who brought it to life. Year-by-year, project-by-project, the studio's founding and meteoric growth are described through detailed personal stories, anecdotes, and remembrances of noteworthy challenges, breakthrough milestones, and history-making successes. Featuring archival materials, concept art, film stills, memorabilia from cast and crew, and rare promotional art, these volumes will take fans on a journey through Marvel Studios' creative challenges, breakthroughs, and successes of the past decade. These visuals are joined by exclusive interviews with key producers, studio heads, and core cast members such as Kevin Feige, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, and more. Clean, bright set.
Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 414 pages, b&w illustrations. Explores the history of the Teamsters up through the 1970's by looking at the subject from the perspective of a number of the key players -- one at a time. A novel yet very effective approach to a large and complicated subject. The book proves to be both informative and entertaining. Remainder stamp to bottom edge, otherwise clean.
Softcover. NY, Picador, 1st pbk, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 436 pages, color and b&w photos. It's 1983. A young Englishwoman arrives in Manhattan on a mission. Summoned in the hope that she can save Conde Nast's troubled new flagship Vanity Fair, Tina Brown is plunged into the maelstrom of competitive New York media. She survives the politics and the intrigue by a simple stratagem: succeeding. Here are the inside stories of the scoops and covers that sold millions: the Reagan kiss, the meltdown of Princess Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, the sensational Annie Leibovitz cover of a gloriously pregnant, naked Demi Moore. Written with dash and verve, the diary is also a sharply observed account of New York and London society. In its cinematic pages the drama, comedy and struggle of raising a family and running an 'it' magazine come to life. The irreverent diaries of Tina Brown's eight spectacular years as editor in chief of Vanity Fair. Clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. NY, Doubleday Page & Co., 1st, 1924, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black cloth, title on spine faded, 306 pages. Stated first edition. Signs of former library book but clean internally. Previous owner's name on front fly leaf.
 "The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record 1900 to 1970 by: J. B. Steane")
 "The Great Air Race: Glory, Tragedy, and the Dawn of American Aviationby: Lancaster, John")
 "The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Canada, Porto Rico, Mexico and Cuba. 72d Year, No. 9, October 1939by: National Rai")
 "The Oil Follies of 1970-1980: How the Petroleum Industry Stole the Show (and Much More Besides)by: Robert Sherrill")
 "The Rise of Modern Industry by: Hammond, J. L. and Barbara")
 "The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protectionby: Diego Gambetta")
 "The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universeby: Author: Bennett, Tara, Author: Terry, Paul, Illustrator: Marvel Studios, Afterword: Downey")
 "The Teamsters by: Brill, Steven")
 "The Way Out - A Forecast of Coming Changes in American Business and Industry by: Filene, Edward A.")