In a recent presentation to ILSR staff, Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative, shared key takeaways from six recent books on monopoly power in the United States. While the books share similar themes — the history of antitrust policy, the impact of monopolies on our everyday lives — each one has a slightly different focus within the American antitrust movement.
This presentation is not meant to be comprehensive and assumes a basic background in monopoly policy discussions. We think all of these books offer important contributions to our understanding of what the problems are and how to deal with them.
The books include:
- Liberty from All Masters: The New American Autocracy vs. the Will of the People by Barry Lynn
- Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money by Zephyr Teachout
- The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age by Tim Wu
- Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy by Matt Stoller
- Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power by David Dayen
- Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control by Sally Hubbard
“The basic dream of America is the fight against illegitimate power,” writes Zephyr Teachout.
Watch the full presentation:
Related ILSR Resources:
- Fighting Monopoly Power: How States and Cities Can Beat Back Corporate Control and Build Thriving Communities
- In The New York Times: Stacy Mitchell Makes the Case to Break Up Jeff Bezos’s Empire
- In the Washington Post: Why Antitrust History is So Important
- New Report Sheds Light on America’s Monopolized Energy Sector… And How We Can Fix It
- Report: Telecom Monopolies Are Blocking Better Internet Access… And What We Can Do About It
- Report Explores Problem of Corporate Concentration in America’s Waste and Recycling Sectors
- Zephyr Teachout on Building an Antimonopoly Movement (Episode 108 of Building Local Power)
- David Dayen Talks America’s Monopoly Problem (Episode 106 of Building Local Power)
- Matt Stoller on Monopoly Power and Democracy (Episode 83 of Building Local Power)
- Beating the Monopolies: Barry Lynn Explains How We Will Win (Episode 30 of Building Local Power)
- ILSR.org/anti-monopoly
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