THE POLITICS OF INDUSTRY

by Walton Hamilton ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 22, 1957

The five ""informal"" lectures which Hamilton originally delivered at the University of Michigan are well-expressed. The content is definite enough, but the lectures imply such a free approach to the structure of American institutions that it takes a bold, heady thinker to follow the book. Denying the glib validity of the terms ""capitalism"" or ""historical purpose"" or any other unqualified descriptive term, Hamilton proposes that nations- especially this nation- function in entireties, the economic and political forces mutually propelling and impeding each other, their precise form a cultural outgrowth, their origins stretching back too far and involving too many contingencies for one to speak of an historical precedent or pattern. From this sweeping perspective, Hamilton is able to deal with and comment upon the total organic process, especially in the politico- industrial complex which is the book's center of focus. The view he reaches is one of the necessity for preserving the unhindered life of the process- for example through a relaxation of the stranglehold maintained by the patents of monopolitic capitalism.... A difficult though rewarding work for professions or close students of the industrial-political web.

Pub Date: April 22, 1957

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION