Biographies of Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and other tycoons, and histories of American industry and capitalism.
Joseph P. Kennedy's life in banking, film, the stock market and politics.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Morgan Housel
Why the first merger wave happened and why most of it disappointed.
How Vanderbilt, Gould, Rockefeller, Morgan and others built 19th-century fortunes.
Recommended by: Larry Ellison
Recommended by: Warren Buffett
Twelve New Yorker stories of business, from the Edsel's failure to the 1962 crash.
“Business Adventures remains the best business book I've ever read.” — Bill Gates
Source: Gates Notes review of Business Adventures
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Mohnish Pabrai, Patrick Collison and 1 other
The scholarly life of Carnegie, from Dunfermline and the railroad to steel.
Recommended by: Charlie Munger, Mohnish Pabrai
A microeconomic history of American business from 1914 to 1984.
Recommended by: Paul Graham
The fullest narrative history, from freight forwarding to cards.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
The history of oil from the first Pennsylvania well to the Gulf War.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and 3 others
How Rockefeller built Standard Oil, faced its breakup and gave his fortune away.
“…books I've recommended, highlighted to death, or forced on friends.” — Andrew Wilkinson
Source: Andrew Wilkinson's Bookshelf, neverenough.com
Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Charlie Munger and 12 others
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Harsher on the gap between Carnegie's preaching and his practice.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Carnegie, Rockefeller, Gould and Morgan and the economy they built
“on how four great builders of the 19th century built the world we live in today” — Marc Andreessen
Source: @pmarca, companion thread to 'It's Time to Build'
Recommended by: Marc Andreessen
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Revolutions in power, transport, communication and organisation that made big firms.
Recommended by: Paul Graham
Vanderbilt's rise through ferries, steamships and railroads.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Marc Rich, the founder of modern commodity trading.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
The wildcatters, from George Mitchell to Harold Hamm, who started the shale boom.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Recommended by: Chamath Palihapitiya
Paul Grahamrecommends 4 books here
Charlie Mungerrecommends 2 books here