Jackson Library

Perhaps it is worth noting this weekend one of the seminal events in the history of our country: the completion, on May 10, 1869, of the first transcontinental railroad. The ceremonial final spike was driven in at Promontory Summit, Utah; tourists at a visitors center today can observe the exact spot where the coasts were linked, amidst much hoopla. None other than Governor Leland Stanford, our Founder and guiding force of the Central Pacific Railroad, was on hand to participate. The celebrated 'golden spike' was temporarily tapped in, for ceremonial reasons; it is now housed on the Stanford campus. A final ceremonial tie, made of laurel wood, was lost in the 1906 quake.

Fortunately our benefactor was much better at starting universities than at laying track; embarrasingly, Governor Stanford actually missed when trying to tap in the final iron spike. Nonetheless, the deed was done, and America was one -- a welcome message after the bloody Civil War.

Harvard's Professor James Heskett muses on the historical evolution of business schools, particularly in connection with his colleague Rakesh Khurana's book From Higher Aims to Hired Hands. Following Khurana, Heskett cites key developments in the mid-Twentieth century that transformed the character of management education -- such as Milton Friedman's mantra that the sole concern of American business was the maximization of profit, and the vision of the 'Chicago school' of managers as agents of the shareholder. Heskett wonders if these influences in fact created a 'shareholder' capitalism that bypassed 'managerial' capitalism. A reading of the history of business education also inspires the question as to whether they are truly professional schools, like their counterparts in medicine and law. Read Professor Heskett's article, together with the many insightful and provocative comments it generated.

John Foley and John Soat square off in 'Titan or Tyrant?', a piece in the June 25 InformationWeek that examines the legacy of Bill Gates. Both contributors get in some punches, citing praise for Gates from rivals and his philanthropic beneficence, as well as his "genius in predation" and reputation as a bully. As a timeline in the article makes plain, Gates has come through thick and thin, and his imprint on the history of computing is huge. Read the article online, or in the issue in Jackson Library.

The New Yorker (May 21) celebrates the career of Milton Bradley, pioneer of the American game industry. The piece 'The Meaning of Life' puns off of Bradley's first and most famous game, the 'Checkered Game of Life', which made its appearance in 1860. Its centennial version, issued in 1960 as the 'Game of Life', was in many ways a far cry from the original, but it has endured (this author himself enjoyed the 1960 version, with its pop-up plastic structures, as a child.) A new version is due this year. The article weaves the life and times of Bradley, his New England ancestors, and their own experiences of life into the story of the board game, from ancient India through the 'Royal Game of Goose' in Renaissance Florence to the British 'New Game of Human Life' of 1790. Also interesting is a sub-theme of Bradley as educator and school supply magnate (he invented the one-armed paper cutter.) Read an asbstract, or the full article in the New Yorker issue on the Current Periodicals rack in Jackson Library.

Seth Godin brings you his Post Bubble Treasure Hunt. On his blog he displays a poster of bubble bigshots from several years back, many of whom are nowhere to be found on the current scene. With the help of a friend, he now offers all of us the opportunity to use an interactive site to identify who's who -- or who was who. Some are easy to spot, others not so. Want a challenge? Interested? Just bored? Try your luck and see if you can find fallen heroes of the Silicon Valley of yesteryear.

* Post Bubble

Are you an heir to the family dynasty and want to read about business practices that don't work in family controlled businesses? Then read The Bronfmans: The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram by Nicholas Faith, St Martin's Press. "The Bronfmans made their fame and fortune transforming a bootlegging operation on the Canadian prairies into Seagram, one of the world's biggest drinks groups." Read an interesting review of the book at FT.com.

The library has ordered a copy of this book.