Goliath

The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy

By: Matt Stoller

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

“Every thinking American must read” (The Washington Book Review) this startling and “insightful” (The New York Times) look at how concentrated financial power and consumerism has transformed American politics, and business.

Going back to our country’s founding, Americans once had a coherent and clear understanding of political tyranny, one crafted by Thomas Jefferson and updated for the industrial age by Louis Brandeis. A concentration of power—whether by government or banks—was understood as autocratic and dangerous to individual liberty and democracy. In the 1930s, people observed that the Great Depression was caused by financial concentration in the hands of a few whose misuse of their power induced a financial collapse. They drew on this tradition to craft the New Deal.

In Goliath, Matt Stoller explains how authoritarianism and populism have returned to American politics for the first time in eighty years, as the outcome of the 2016 election shook our faith in democratic institutions. It has brought to the fore dangerous forces that many modern Americans never even knew existed. Today’s bitter recriminations and panic represent more than just fear of the future, they reflect a basic confusion about what is happening and the historical backstory that brought us to this moment.

The true effects of populism, a shrinking middle class, and concentrated financial wealth are only just beginning to manifest themselves under the current administrations. The lessons of Stoller’s study will only grow more relevant as time passes. “An engaging call to arms,” (Kirkus Reviews) Stoller illustrates here in rich detail how we arrived at this tenuous moment, and the steps we must take to create a new democracy.

Critic reviews

"Jonathan Davis delivers an admirable narration of this historical look at monopolies and political power."

George Orwell’s Admonition

Those who control the past….. a meaningful read. The author has done for our understanding of the economic forces controlling our lives as Howard Zinn revealed the harsh, inhumane forces and hidden reality of our so called political democracy.
Every history teacher should read, contemplate and teach these lessons Matt Stoller has excavated for us.

Makes many great points, not entirely honest

Describing the 2 major parties as monopolistic and anti monopolist is not correct. Even the definition of monopolists used Is not entirely proper. Still his points are valid and he does a great job of reviewing the history of the Democratic Party's movement away from the values of blue collar workers.

It would have been helpful had he included descriptions of the values of combining the many small companies into large monopolies or oligopolies in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Teach This in Schools and at home

This is a book polical and business leaders fear becoming popular. This book changed how I see economic issues. It's bias for sure, but the ring of truth resonated with me.

This book sheds light on on exactly how we got here and hope that we can change it.

I want to join the movement. How can I find others? I will talk with my people but we’ll need to be connected to something bigger. Also, it will take courage and commitment to stop to stop patronizing the monoliths. I am hooked on Prime. Neither do I know how to vote anymore.

A Detailed History

At its core, Goliath is many stories: The story of Texarkana Congressman Wright Payment and his decades of work fighting against monopoly. It is also the story of robber barons and the sheer indifference of corporations until government intervened. Finally, it is the story of how elected leaders, while not all at once, ditched the solid principles of The New Deal, a set of policies that, when backed by antitrust, led to widespread economic prosperity.

Throughout the audiobook, you hear a wonderful performance by Jonathan Davis as he goes through a century starting off with the first Roosevelt and concluding with the Obama administration. There were moments when I would see historical events through the lens of antitrust. At the beginning, you learn of FDRs refusal to work with Hoover (because Hoover was against the New Deal reforms). Near the end, you hear the historical revisionism of that moment as explained by Obama.

Overall, I believe that this book will become more and more important as the years pass; things look dire, but it can be turned around.