The Forgotten Men Who Built the Early American West

A Book Review of B. C. Forbes' "Men Who Are Making the West."

B. C. Forbes in "Men Who Are Making the West" rattles off the names of a literal  list of Whos Who of "Eastern" American Industrialists:

• "The oil industry has its Rockefeller, the steel industry its Gary, the automobile industry its Ford, the photographic supply business its Eastman, the tobacco industry its Duke, the field of invention its Edison, . . .

• " . . . the woolen industry its Wood, the lumber industry its Weyerhaeusers, the daily newspaper business its Hearst, the weekly field its Curtis [The Saturday Evening Post] . . .
• " . . . the powder industry its duPonts, the smelting business its Guggenheims, the heavy chemical industry its Nichols, the mail-order business its Rosenwald, the corn products industry its Bedford, and the fire insurance business its Evans; . . .

• " . . . the telephone had its Vail, the cash register had its Patterson, the chain store its Woolworth, railroading its Hill and Harriman, the electric industry its Coffin, coke its Frick, banking its Morgan, the sewing machine business its Singer."

​I wonder how many of today's MBAs would recognize any of the western ranchers, industrialists, and bankers in this book by B. C. Forbes: "Men Who Are Making the West." I surely don't ask the question with any sense of superiority or intention of slighting a business education because I only recognized a few.

​Although B. C. Forbes is a little over-laudatory in his approach, he also presents solid facts that these men understood their responsibilities to their four stakeholders: customers, employees, shareholders and their shared societies.

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Read The Book Review of B. C. Forbes' "Men Who Are Making the West"