The economic and cultural roots of contemporary American business can be traced directly to developments in the era between the Civil War and World War I. The physical expansion of the country combined with development of transportation and communication infrastructures to create a free market of vast proportion and businesses capable of capitalizing on the accompanying "economies of scale," through higher productivity, lower costs, and broader distribution. The Birth of Big Business in the United States illuminates the conditions that changed the face of American business and the national economy, giving rise to such titans as Standard Oil, United States Steel, American Tobacco, and Sears, Roebuck, as well as institutions such as the United States Post Office. During this period, commercial banking and law also evolved, and, as the authors argue, business and government were not antagonists but partners in creating mass consumer markets, process innovations, and regulatory frameworks to support economic growth. The Birth of Big Business in the United States is not only an incisive account of modern business development but a fascinating glimpse into a dynamic period of American history.

With rapidly expanding information sources available in libraries and on the internet, researchers delving into business history need to know what is useful and what is not. Together with the first two volumes of the Handbook of American Business History, this third volume book provides a guide to business history and to the overwhelming amount of information on the subject. In twenty-one entries on specific industries, contributors offer concise histories of infrastructure, including electricity, gas, and communications, as well as service industries, such as banking, medical insurance, mortuary, advertising, and education. Bibliographic essays, supplemented with bibliographic lists, point to the most important sources on each industry.

Written during the most rapidly changing decade in American business history, the Handbook is a consolidated business history of the United States. Volume III addresses basic industries such as mining, electricity, and natural gas trade; services such as financial, health, educational, and social-business organizations; and public administration. The histories of the industries begin with the industries' rise to importance in the United States and continue to the present. The bibliographic essays discuss the leading sources since Robert Lovett's "American Economic and Business History Information Sources" (1971) and Henrietta Larson's "Guide to Business History" (1948). This volume and the two companion volumes provide a useful resource for the researcher, teacher, and student.

Overall, this first volume in the series should render business research in manufacturing a good deal easier by bringing together insightful industry histories and detailed critical bibliographies. This series has much to recommend it. Future volumes will be eagerly awaited. Reference Books Bulletin This historical and bibliographical reference work is the first volume of Greenwood Press's Handbook of American Business History, a series intended to supplement current bibliographic materials pertaining to business history. Devoted to manufacturing, this work uses the Enterprise Standard Industrial Classification (ESIC) to divide the subject into distinct segments, from which contributors have developed histories and bibliographies of the different types of manufacturing. Though authors were given sets of guidelines to follow, they were also allowed the flexibility to work in a format that best suited the material. Each contribution in this volume contains three important elements: a concise history of the manufacturing sector, a bibliographic essay, and a bibliography. Some contributions appear in three distinct parts, while others are combined into one or two segments; all build on currently available material for students and scholars doing research on business and industry. The contributors, who include business, economic, and social historians, as well as engineers and lawyers, have covered such topics as bakery products, industrial chemicals and synthetics, engines and turbines, and household appliances. Also included are an introductory essay that covers general works and a comprehensive index. This book should be a useful tool for courses in business and industry, and a valuable resource for college, university, and public libraries.