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Book 1: The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
Faculty Leader Dr. Burt Folsom
Meeting Dates: 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2
Meeting Time: 2:00pm - 3:15pm
Location: Kennesaw Campus
Book description: The Myth of the Robber Barons describes the role of key entrepreneurs in the economic
growth of the United States from 1850 to 1910. The entrepreneurs studied are Cornelius
Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, James J. Hill, Andrew Mellon, Charles Schwab, and
the Scranton family. Most historians argue that these men, and others like them, were
Robber Barons. The story, however, is more complicated. The author, Burton Folsom,
divides the entrepreneurs into two groups market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs.
The market entrepreneurs, such as Hill, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller, succeeded by
producing a quality product at a competitive price. The political entrepreneurs such
as Edward Collins in steamships and in railroads the leaders of the Union Pacific
Railroad were men who used the power of government to succeed. They tried to gain
subsidies, or in some way use government to stop competitors. The market entrepreneurs
helped lead to the rise of the U. S. as a major economic power. By 1910, the U. S.
dominated the world in oil, steel, and railroads led by Rockefeller, Schwab (and Carnegie),
and Hill. The political entrepreneurs, by contrast, were a drain on the taxpayers
and a thorn in the side of the market entrepreneurs. Interestingly, the political
entrepreneurs often failed without help from government they could not produce competitive
products. The author describes this clash of the market entrepreneurs and the political
entrepreneurs. In the Mellon chapter, the author describes how Andrew Mellon an entrepreneur
in oil and aluminum became Secretary of Treasury under Coolidge. In office, Mellon
was the first American to practice supply-side economics. He supported cuts on income
tax rates for all groups. The rate cut on the wealthiest Americans, from 73 percent
to 25 percent, freed up investment capital and led to American economic growth during
the 1920s. Also, the amount of revenue into the federal treasury increased sharply
after tax rates were cut. The Myth of the Robber Barons has separate chapters on Vanderbilt,
Hill, Schwab, Mellon, and the Scrantons. The author also has a conclusion, in which
he looks at the textbook bias on the subject of Robber Barons and the rise of the
U. S. in the late 1800s. This chapter explores three leading college texts in U. S.
history and shows how they misread American history and disparage market entrepreneurs
instead of the political entrepreneurs. This book is in its seventh edition, and is
widely adopted in college and high school classrooms across the U. S.
Book 2: FDR Goes to War: How Expanded Executive Power, Spiraling National Debt, and Restricted
Civil Liberties Shaped Wartime America
Faculty Leader: Dr. Burt Folsom
Meeting Dates: 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2
Meeting Time: 3:30pm - 4:45pm
Meeting Location: Kennesaw Campus
Book description: From the acclaimed author of New Deal or Raw Deal?, called “eye-opening” by the National Review, comes a fascinating exposé of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s destructive wartime legacy—and its adverse impact on America’s economic and foreign policies today.
Did World War II really end the Great Depression—or did President Franklin Roosevelt’s poor judgment and confused management leave Congress with a devastating fiscal mess after the final bomb was dropped? In this provocative new book, historians Burton W. Folsom, Jr., and Anita Folsom make a compelling case that FDR’s presidency led to evasive and self-serving wartime policies.
At a time when most Americans held isolationist sentiments—a backlash against the stunning carnage of World War I—Roosevelt secretly favored an aggressive interventionist foreign policy. Yet, throughout the 1930s, he spent lavishly on his disastrous New Deal programs and slashed defense spending, leaving America vastly unprepared for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the challenge of fighting World War II.
History books tell us the wartime economy was a boon, thanks to massive government spending. But the skyrocketing national debt, food rations, nonexistent luxuries, crippling taxes, labor strikes, and dangerous work of the time tell a different story—one that is hardly the stuff of recovery.
Instead, the war ushered in a new era of imperialism for the executive branch. Roosevelt
seized private property, conducted illegal wiretaps, tried to silence domestic opposition,
and interned 110,000 Japanese Americans. He set a dangerous precedent for entangling
alliances in foreign affairs, including his remarkable courtship of Russian dictator
Joseph Stalin, while millions of Americans showed the courage, perseverance, and fortitude
to make the weapons and fight the war.
Was Roosevelt a great wartime leader, as historians almost unanimously assert? The
Folsoms offer a thought-provoking revision of his controversial legacy. FDR Goes to
War will make America take a second look at one of its most complicated presidents.
Book 3: Social Justice Fallacies
Faculty Leader: Dr. Brett Katzman
Meeting Dates: 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8
Meeting Time: 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Location: Kennesaw Campus
Book description: The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to
many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words
do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step
toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question
of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought
to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite
of what is widely believed.
However attractive the social justice vision, the crucial question is whether the social justice agenda will get us to the fulfillment of that vision. History shows that the social justice agenda has often led in the opposite direction, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.
More things are involved besides simply mistakes. All human beings are fallible, and
social justice advocates may not necessarily make any more mistakes than others. But
crusaders with an utter certainty about their mission are often undeterred by obstacles,
evidence or even fatal dangers. That is where much of the Western world is today.
The question is whether we will continue on heedlessly, past the point of no return.
Book 4: Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet
Faculty Leader: Prof. Michael Patrono
Meeting Dates: 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11
Meeting time: 1:25pm - 2:15pm
Location: Kennesaw Campus
Book description: Generations of people have been taught that population growth makes resources scarcer. In 2021, for example, one widely publicized report argued, “The world's rapidly growing population is consuming the planet's natural resources at an alarming rate . . . the world currently needs 1.6 Earths to satisfy the demand for natural resources . . . [a figure that] could rise to 2 planets by 2030.” But is that true?
After analyzing the prices of hundreds of commodities, goods, and services spanning two centuries, Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley found that resources became more abundant as the population grew. That was especially true when they looked at “time prices,” which represent the length of time that people must work to buy something.
To their surprise, the authors also found that resource abundance increased faster than the population―a relationship that they call “superabundance.” On average, every additional human being created more value than he or she consumed. This relationship between population growth and abundance is deeply counterintuitive, yet it is true.
Why? More people produce more ideas, which lead to more inventions. People then test
those inventions in the marketplace to separate the useful from the useless. At the
end of that process of discovery, people are left with innovations that overcome shortages,
spur economic growth, and raise standards of living.
But large populations are not enough to sustain superabundance―just think of the poverty in China and India before their respective economic reforms. To innovate, people must be allowed to think, speak, publish, associate, and disagree. They must be allowed to save, invest, trade, and profit. In a word, they must be free.
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