Chapters of Erie

In the late 1860s, the spectacular growth of the American economy created an unprecedented concentration of power. The corporate directors that emerged possessed tremendous amounts of economic leverage, and often they flagrantly abused it. The Adams brothers, Charles and Henry, were appalled by this unscrupulous behavior and sought to expose the financial machinations behind it. Charles examined the practices of those running the Erie Railroad while Henry focused on the efforts of Jay Gould and Jim Fisk to corner the gold market. The results of their work are the articles presented in Chapters of Erie. While the term "investigative journalism" did not exist in the Adams brothers' time, their essays show fine examples of it. The Adams brothers' well-researched, perceptive, and sometimes sardonic writing will appeal to anyone interested in the history of big business in the United States and how it affected economics and politics. Students of journalism, especially those with an interest in early muckraking, also will appreciate this groundbreaking work. All readers cannot help but notice a striking similarity between the corporate leaders of the 1860s and the financial power brokers who dominate today's headlines.