[9 Mar 2024] This was an interesting mono-history of the element phosphorus, which is very important to modern agriculture and our ability to feed the [9 Mar 2024] This was an interesting mono-history of the element phosphorus, which is very important to modern agriculture and our ability to feed the billions of people on earth. However, indiscriminate use has a couple times caused dangerous problems for the environment, specifically by enabling toxic algal blooms in critical waterways. The first time, in the mid 20th century, it was overused as an additive to laundry detergent, but the government was able to reduce that and mitigate the algae problem for a while. But not long after that it became one of the most important agricultural fertilizers and the algae problem resurfaced.
It's a short book and pretty well written. Filled with history about the development and production of phosphorus. There are also many stories of individual people involved in that history or impacted by the algal blooms. The final chapter describes some of the ongoing efforts to reverse the dangerous phosphate pollution of our waterways. The primary method appears to be replacing the industrial mining of phosphorus from rocks with processed human waste. The author seems to be confident that this will be effective to prevent our running out of phosphorus any time soon, but he doesn't mention how it will affect the issue of runoff. It's an interesting book and worth reading, but I think maybe a little too short and missing some depth....more
[13 Aug 2023] This was an interesting and well written book about corporate America. Gelles briefly describes the period between 1935 and 1970, which h[13 Aug 2023] This was an interesting and well written book about corporate America. Gelles briefly describes the period between 1935 and 1970, which he calls the Golden Age of Capitalism. It was a time when businesses served their communities and their employees, as well as their owners. Working people and businesses both thrived. Then Reagan was elected and Milton Friedman became a popular economist. In the 80s and 90s, capitalism changed. Workers were no longer partners with owners. Instead they became the enemy, an expense that should be minimized as much as possible. Likewise, corporations no longer felt any obligation to the community where they operated nor to society at large. Profit at any cost became the objective, and it was profit that benefited only the shareholders and executives. The results of this change was communities all but destroyed, crushing inequality and unemployment, and failing corporations which no longer focused on innovation or quality products. It also resulted in the crash of 2008, and the recession that followed.
It was interesting to see how this all happened. Gelles primarily blames Jack Welch who was the CEO of General Electric during the 80s and 90s and who made GE into the largest, richest company in the world for a time. He also influenced many other business leaders to follow his example. But all of them traded long term growth for short term profit.
Gelles, who is an investigative reporter, not an economist or historian, has a very clear bias in this book. The unrestrained profit-taking of these American corporations is bad. The socially responsible capitalism of the post War years is infinitely preferable. I frankly share his bias, even though I'm currently living on my retirement plan investments. However, when a writer is so overwhelmingly one-sided, I can't help but wonder what he's leaving out. I also feel he did not spend enough coverage of the political changes in the 70s which enabled the business changes of the 80s and 90s. I don't have the knowledge to evaluate his historiography, but I would not call this a scholarly work. Probably more of reportage than history.
Still I enjoyed it and would not hesitate to recommend it. It's short -- less than 250 pages of actual text -- and an easy read. ...more
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