The growth of big business in the United States and western Europe, 1850-1939

This book provides the first introductory, comparative account of the rise of giant business corporations in America and Europe in the century before the Second World War.

It discusses the evolution of firms like Ford, Exxon, Unilever and Siemens, as well as introducing the reader to the major explanations that have been advanced by historians and economists in order to account for these developments in the global economic order.