Kochland
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Kochland
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Narrated by:
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Jacques Roy
About this listen
‘A landmark book....A massively reported deep dive into the unparalleled corporate industrial giant Koch Industries....This impressively 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.’ Kirkus Reviews
‘Leonard’s superb investigations and even-handed, clear-eyed reportage stand out....American capitalism at its most successful and domineering is at the center of this sweeping history of a much-vilified company.’ Publishers Weekly
‘If you want a crash course in the evolution of postmodern capitalism over the last five decades read Kochland....Leonard's study is exhaustive and engaging.’ New York Journal of Books
The extraordinary account of how the secretive Koch Industries became one of the largest private companies in the world.
Koch Industries, the sprawling industrial conglomerate owned by Charles and David Koch, specializes in the kinds of stunningly profitable businesses that undergird every aspect of modern life: it controls the nitrogen fertilizer that puts food on your table, the gasoline that powers your car, the fibres in your clothes, the building materials that make your homes and offices, and the microchips that drive your life online.
For five decades, CEO Charles Koch has kept Koch Industries quietly operating behind a veil of secrecy, with a view toward very, very long-term profits. He’s a genius businessman: patient with profits, able to learn from his mistakes, determined that his employees develop an almost a worshipful dedication to free-market ruthlessness, and a master disrupter.
If you want to understand how we killed the unions in this country, how we widened the income divide, how we stalled progress on climate change and how corporate America bought the influence industry, all you have to do is listen to this book.
Seven years in the making, Kochland tells the ambitious tale of how one private company consolidated power over half a century – and how in doing so, transformed capitalism into something that feels so deeply alienating to many Americans today.
©2019 Christopher Leonard (P)2019 Simon & Schuster
What listeners say about Kochland
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Phil
- 12-11-2019
Fascinating look into Koch Industries
Half the book is dedicated to a look into Koch Industries as a company which then slowly builds into what I believe people most want to read about ... the enormous lobbying and political machine that the Kochs had built over decades. I don't know whether I come out for or against Charles from this as the author tries to paint him in a neutral light which I think is successful. Charles is obviously a visionary businessman and politics aside you have to credit the operation he has built with Koch Industries. But in terms of the political machine and his blatant disregard and anti climate lobbying he is a disgrace and is everything wrong with America. So I am torn. I think one should always be radically open minded about books and this is no exception. it's a great window into the company and into the man. Curiously it ignores almost anything about David Koch which I was curious about too. It's a great audiobook and you should buy it if you're interested in the history of the Kochs but you may come away disappointed if you're just after the political stuff.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- gjbmcn2
- 13-04-2021
Militant Billionaires
this is an enjoyable re-set out in a well understandable format for listening to my reciting series of stories based on human characters and incident throughout the book the author seems to take a relaxed dance on judging the Coke Bros and the way they are and their money and awful omits a few details like the father of the Coke Bros working for the Nazis to build their largest oil refinery a piece information only supplied in the dark money book but not in this book. It also reflects an American centric view of industry, economics, capitalism and market methods. It ends begging a sequel.
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