Booklist Reviews
Ask the average American what, exactly, Koch Industries does, and they may be uncertain. Energy? Building materials? Paper products? All of the above, and much more. There is hardly an aspect of the American manufacturing and consumer marketplace that can't be linked back to a Koch company. And yet, the full schematic of the infrastructure of this business behemoth is one of corporate America's abiding secrets, and that's just the way the notoriously reticent Charles Koch likes it. His was a vision based on an unrelenting drive, an uncanny market sense, and an often-unscrupulous pursuit of untold wealth. Leonard covers the specific properties of the energy industry that was, and is, the foundation of the Koch family fortune, as well as Charles Koch's singular management philosophy, which propelled the company's massive expansion into a diverse field of products and services. Ultimately, Leonard's intricately developed and extensively researched history of the Koch empire is a colossal corporate biography that sheds important light on this closely guarded enterprise while simultaneously scrutinizing the nefarious underpinnings of American economic policies and practices. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
BookPage Reviews
The past, present and future of American labor
As the national conversation about income inequality and corporate power continues, two new books by award-winning journalists are must-reads.
On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, an idealistic young labor worker was having tea with friends in New York's Washington Square when the nearby Triangle Shirtwaist Company caught fire. Frances Perkins joined the crowd of helpless onlookers, who watched as 146 workers, many of them teenage girls, perished. It was a defining moment in labor history for many reasons, not the least of which was its enduring impact on Perkins, who became secretary of Labor for Franklin D. Roosevelt. She described that tragic afternoon as "the day the New Deal was born."
Steven Greenhouse's Beaten Down, Worked Up is a riveting reminder that most of us never learned this history in school. "Millions of Americans know little about what unions have achieved over American history, how the labor movement has played an important, often unsung role in making America the great nation it is today," Greenhouse writes.
Yet he does more than focus on the labor movement's milestones. By tracing what he calls "the downward arc of the union movement and of worker power," he shows why income inequality in the United States is now worse than in any other industrialized nation. He also identifies obstacles to change in our political landscape and the campaign finance system. "That system," he notes, "is dominated by ultra-wealthy, conservative (and vehemently anti-union) donors like the Koch brothers."
Christopher Leonard picks it up from there. His extraordinary new book, Kochland, is the perfect complement to Greenhouse's, providing a fascinating, in-depth analysis of Koch Industries and its astounding influence and power. Don't let its 700-page length put you off: Leonard's book reads like a thriller, and a dark one at that. It's peopled with myriad characters as fascinating as those in "Game of Thrones" (and a dictionary of significant people is included).
Leonard begins his tour de force in 1981, when 45-year-old Charles Koch, who had run Koch Industries since the age of 32, turned down an offer to take Koch public. The strategy of remaining private has been integral to Koch's success, Leonard argues, laying the foundation for "decades of continuous growth." It's also brought unimaginable wealth to Charles and David Koch, whose combined worth is estimated at $120 billion.
Leonard covers a lot of ground, but especially significant is a chapter analyzing Charles Koch's long-held opposition to climate regulations. "A carbon-control regime would expose Koch to a brand-new regulatory structure, but it would also choke off decades of future profits as the world shifted away from burning fossil fuels," Leonard tells us, reporting on a speech Charles Koch made in 2009.
Leonard devoted seven years to this book. In the acknowledgments he tells his kids that "all of it is for you." Indeed, Kochland is essential reading for anyone concerned about the America our children and grandchildren will inherit.
Copyright 2019 BookPage Reviews.Choice Reviews
Power. Secrecy. Control. And, of course, profit. These words thread their way through Kochland, Leonard's brilliant history of the half-century since Charles Koch inherited leadership of Koch Industries and built it into a colossus. That Leonard (a respected business reporter) does not describe Koch as self-righteous shows his evenhandedness as he details Koch's efforts both to limit government action to the support of private property, especially that of the rich and influential, and to manage employees as if they exist only to generate profits. Koch's massive funding for think tanks, public relations, university programs, and lobbying has influenced national conversations and policies, while teams of lawyers have mitigated legal challenges resulting from environmental and safety violations. Vivid portraits of a wide array of people and their lives, both inside and outside the company, draw the reader through the high-powered, increasingly global drama that still centers on Wichita, Kansas. Leonard excels at concise, accurate contextualization that explains everything from economic and financial intricacies to combat over climate change. Exhaustive research and compelling writing combine in this page-turner, illuminating as much about the US and its recent economic and political history as about Koch Industries. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.
--P. W. Laird, emerita, University of Colorado Denver
Pamela W. Laird
emerita, University of Colorado Denver
Pamela W. Laird Choice Reviews 57:07 March 2020 Copyright 2020 American Library Association.Kirkus Reviews
A massively reported deep dive into the unparalleled corporate industrial giant Koch Industries. In 1967, Charles Koch inherited from his recently deceased father the leadership of a medium-sized, nearly invisible industrial conglomerate based in Wichita, Kansas. Charles would build the conglomerate into an entity so sprawling, profitable, and politically powerful that it seems to defy all reason. "Koch's operations span the entire landscape of the American economy," writes business reporter Leonard (The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business, 2014). "The company's story is the story of America's energy system, of its blue-collar factory workers, of millionaire derivatives traders, corporate lobbyists, and private equity deal makers." Brother David shared ownership and participated in management of the company, which never sold stock to the public. Another brother challenged Charles by filing lawsuits but, over the decades, finally pulled back. The fourth brother never became involved in the operation of the business. As the author shows, the Koch br and does not appear on consumer products. Rather, the brothers became multibillionaires by controlling oil and gas production, paper products, derivatives trading in multiple commodities, engineering services, and much more. At first interested in influencing electoral politics to aid Koch Industries' profitability, Charles eventually expanded the corporate presence inside state legislatures and the U.S. Congress partly for ideological reasons. Labeling Charles' political philosophy is impossible, but there is definitely a kinship to libertarianism, with an emphasis on capitalist free markets untrammeled by government intervention. Charles opposed almost every policy of President Barack Obama and then battled various Donald Trump initiatives for entirely different reasons. Leonard is especially skilled at explicating the politics as well as at delineating how Koch Industries dominated industrial sectors, with natural gas extraction via fracking a timely recent example. This i mpressively researched and well-rendered book also serves as a biography of Charles Koch, with Leonard providing an evenhanded treatment of the tycoon. Leonard's work is on par with Steve Coll's Private Empire and even Ida Tarbell's enduring classic The History of the Standard Oil Company. A landmark book. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Reviews
Investigative business reporter Leonard (
Publishers Weekly Reviews
American capitalism at its most successful and domineering is at the center of this sweeping history of a much-vilified company. Business journalist Leonard (