If the stories they tell about themselves are to be believed, all of the tech giants-Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon-were built from the ground up through hard work, a few good ideas, and the entrepreneurial daring to seize an opportunity when it presented itself. With searing wit and blistering commentary Bit Tyrants provides an urgent corrective to this froth of board room marketing copy that is so often passed off as analysis. For fans of corporate fairy-tales there are no shortage of official histories that celebrate the innovative genius of Steve Jobs, liberal commentators who fall over themselves to laude Bill Gates's selfless philanthropy, or politicians who will tell us to listen to Mark Zuckerberg for advice on how to protect our democracy from foreign influence. In this highly unauthorized account of the Big Five's origins, Rob Larson sets the record straight, and in the process shreds every focus-grouped bromide about corporate benevolence he could get his hands on. Those readers unwilling to smile and nod as every day we become more dependent on our phones and apps to do our chores, our jobs, and our socializing can take heart as Larson provides us with maps to all the shallow graves, skeleton filled closets, and invective laced emails Big Tech left behind on its ascent to power. His withering analysis will help readers crack the code of the economic dynamics that allowed these companies to become near-monopolies very early on, and, with a little bit of luck, his calls for digital socialism might just inspire a viral movement for online revolution.

For years, we've been taught that capitalism is good for freedom. Dominant right-wing talk radio hosts to this day recommend "libertarian" classics like Hayek's Road to Serfdom and Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom that claim markets free us, and this picture still dominates the schools and the political spectrum. Well get bent, one percent, because Rob Larson's Capitalism vs. Freedom: The Toll Road to Serfdom puts big business under a microscope. This book debunks the conservative classics while demonstrating that the marketplace has its own great centers of power, which the libertarian tradition itself claims is a limit to freedom. In fact, Larson illustrates how capitalism fails both this and other concepts of human liberty, not just failing to establish a right to a share of society's production, but also leaving us subject to the great power plays of the one percent's corporate property.

If the stories they tell about themselves are to be believed, all of the tech giants-Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon-were built from the ground up through hard work, a few good ideas, and the entrepreneurial daring to seize an opportunity when it presented itself. With searing wit and blistering commentary Bit Tyrants provides an urgent corrective to this froth of board room marketing copy that is so often passed off as analysis. For fans of corporate fairy-tales there are no shortage of official histories that celebrate the innovative genius of Steve Jobs, liberal commentators who fall over themselves to laude Bill Gates's selfless philanthropy, or politicians who will tell us to listen to Mark Zuckerberg for advice on how to protect our democracy from foreign influence. In this highly unauthorized account of the Big Five's origins, Rob Larson sets the record straight, and in the process shreds every focus-grouped bromide about corporate benevolence he could get his hands on. Those readers unwilling to smile and nod as every day we become more dependent on our phones and apps to do our chores, our jobs, and our socializing can take heart as Larson provides us with maps to all the shallow graves, skeleton filled closets, and invective laced emails Big Tech left behind on its ascent to power. His withering analysis will help readers crack the code of the economic dynamics that allowed these companies to become near-monopolies very early on, and, with a little bit of luck, his calls for digital socialism might just inspire a viral movement for online revolution.

Join Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and a host of memorable characters in a staged reading of the Hound of the Baskervilles. Originally performed at the historic Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, MN, this Living Literature production premiered in April and May of 2014. This Reader's Theatre Edition is a black-covered, large print adaptation of Sir A.C. Doyle's original short story. It is designed for rehearsal and/or performance in a reader's theatre or staged reading situation. Also available is the DIRECTOR'S EDITION of the same script (ISBN: 978-1-312-08013-3) with a white cover and additional documentation.

Join Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and a host of memorable characters in a staged reading of the Hound of the Baskervilles. Originally performed at the historic Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, MN, this Living Literature production premiered in April and May of 2014. This Director's Edition is offered as a companion to the black-covered, large print Reader's Edition of Sir A.C. Doyle's original short story.

This is a darkly humorous guide to the three great crises plaguing today's world: environmental degradation, social conflict in the age of austerity and financial instability. Rob Larson holds mainstream economic theory up against the grim reality of a planet in meltdown. He looks at scientists' conclusions about climate change, the business world's opinions about its own power, and reveals the fingerprints of finance on American elections. Through ascerbic analysis, Bleakonomics unveils a world of extreme inequality, confusion and insanity.