"Emblems of Corporate Corruption"

Very nice look, with a historical perspective, at the public image of Big Business. It's a British perspective, meaning close enough to understand US thinking, yet far enough to have some objectivity. I especially liked the insight about our love-hate realtionship with W**Mart.

America's most-hated companies The very bottom line Economist.com

New Book on Vanderbilt Women

This may be of some interest to the leadership class from fall 2005 (who are you kidding, Kristin ?) -- this recently published book is a detailed study of the 2 Vanderbilt women we saw for just a few minutes in the video.

'Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt,' by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart - The New York Times Book Review - New York Times

Technology Update: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams

The age of the telegram is over. When I think "telegram", I think old black-and-white tv and movies. Perry Mason sent telegrams, as did Sam Spade. Ah, well, the telegram has gone the way of the rotary dial phone, the manual typewriter, and the Manhattan......

Nostalia aside, I'm surprised that it took this long.

LiveScience.com - Era Ends: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams

Time catching up to World War I veterans

Not relevant to our classes, but interesting.

AP Wire 11/10/2005 Time catching up to World War I veterans

Some interesting points about Alva Vanderbilt

Ok. Tonight in Leadership Seminar, we saw a film on the Vanderbilts. You'd think the focus would be on Cornelius ("The Commodore," founder of the family fortune) or William (son of Cornelius, who greatly added to the Vanderbilt wealthj). To me, the interesting one was neither of these two, but William's wife, Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt Belmont. There's a bit more to her than we saw -- she was truly dedicated to the women's suffrage movement, and the divorce from Vanderbilt was suspiciously quickly followed by her marriage to Oliver Bemont.

Long Island History: LI's Rebels With a Cause