Entrepreneurship and Capitalism

Media Library Titles to Aid Class Lecture and Discussion

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (DVD 1534)

This two-part documentary discusses the life and work of the noted philosopher and novelist. Interviews feature her often spirited and eloquent defense of capitalism and the free market.

Cast Away (DVD 4089)

A modern retelling of Robinson Crusoe, this film follows the travails of Chuck Noland, a time-obsessed systems analyst for Federal Express, who is marooned on a desert island. The opening sequence, however, tracks a FedEx package’s journey from Texas to Russia and then joins Chuck’s intense training session in a Moscow warehouse. His orientation speech perfectly captures the American entrepreneurial spirit.

Big Night (DVD 1608)

No other movie better deals with the exhilaration and heartbreak of running a small business. Two immigrant brothers, Primo and Secondo, try to operate a genuine Northern Italian restaurant on the Jersey Shore during the Eisenhower era. Two scenes are instructive: (1) After meeting with an impatient loan officer, Secondo tells his Primo that they must make their menu more “cost-effective”; (2) business rival Pascal lectures Secondo on the nature of American enterprise. (“Give to people what they want, and maybe later you can give them what you want.”)

Flash of Genius (DVD 564)

This biographicalfocuses on inventor Robert Kearns’s legal battle with the Ford Motor Company, after Ford developed an intermittent windshield wiper based on ideas Kearns had patented. Early scenes illustrate the relationship between innovation and enterprise and compare and contrast entrepreneurial and corporate capitalism.

In Search of Excellence (DVD 6670)

This documentary, based on Tom Peters’ and Robert Waterman’s book, defines and analyzes entrepreneurship through eight case studies. Two deal with small to medium-sized businesses: Stew Leonard’s Dairy and North American Tool & Die. The program’s introduction explains the research team’s goals and methods.

Other People’s Money (DVD 763)

Wall Street shark Larry “the Liquidator” Garfield attempts to buy out New England Wire and Cable, headed by old-fashioned Yankee CEO Andrew “Jorgy” Jorgensen. During negotiations, Garfield tries to seduce Kate Sullivan, the company’s leggy young lawyer, into switching sides. Larry’s self-serving but cogent defense of free enterprise and Kate’s equally eloquent counterarguments encapsulate a historical debate: What benefits American democracy more, the visible hand of law and government or the invisible hand of the market?

Risky Business (DVD 7932)

Joel Goodson, a high-school student and aspiring business major, lives with his wealthy parents in the North Shore area of suburban Chicago. Aspiring to attend Princeton University he participates in Future Enterprisers, an extracurricular club in which student teams work to create small businesses. The early scenes, which treat education as a form of entrepreneurship, capture the seminar’s theme and should appeal to first-year college students.

Trading Places (DVD 5610)

A disgraced junior broker and a fast-talking street hustler pool their brains and capital to bring down Duke & Duke, a successful commodities brokerage firm lead by two arrogant and corrupt Philadelphia patricians. During the film’s climax, set in the World Trade Center, the underdogs prevent the blue bloods from cornering the market on frozen concentrated orange juice by exploiting data from a federal crop report. This entertaining scene not only illustrates the market’s built-in feedback system but also its potential to destroy class privilege.

Tucker (DVD 5312)

Francis Ford Coppola’s tribute to Preston Tucker, the postwar independent auto manufacturer who was squashed by the Big Three, celebrates American entrepreneurship. Early scenes show Tucker identifying and defining his market, developing and testing a prototype, and designing and calibrating an advertising and public relations campaign.

From Mercantilism to Capitalism

Adam Smith and the “Wealth of the Nations” (DVD 5502)

This educational program, sponsored by the Liberty Fund, honors the life and work of Adam Smith. The documentary shows how Smith researched and wrote The Wealth of the Nations, explains such important concepts as the division of labor and the invisible hand, analyzes the impact of Smith’s ideas on the American Revolution and the Early Republic, and argues for his enduring relevance.

Ascent of Man (DVD 738)

This thirteen-part series, written and hosted by Jacob Bronowski, uses science to trace the development of human society:

  • Part 8 (“The Drive for Power”) illustrates the Industrial Revolution’s impact on political thought and everyday life. This episode discusses Watt’s steam engine, the Lunar Society of Birmingham, and capitalism’s democratic ideals.

Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life, an Electric Mind (DVD 1682)

This three-part PBS series celebrates the Founding Father of American enterprise:

  • Part 1 (“Let the Experiment Be Made”) concentrates on Franklin the businessman, inventor, and scientist. We see Ben start his own newspaper, perfect his image as colonial Philadelphia’s most able tradesman, network and create various voluntary associations, and invent the lightning rod.

Civilisation (DVD 6327)

This thirteen-part series, written and hosted by Sir Kenneth Clark, explores the social, technological, and economic forces shaping Western art:

  • Part 3 (“Romance and Reality”) discusses the rise of mercantile city states in late medieval Italy. Theseshrewd and worldly merchants and bankers, Clark explains, made possible the art and science of the Renaissance, as much from their practical and empirical mindset as their generous patronage.
  • Part 8 (“The Light of Experience”) shows how the science and commerce shaped the values and art of the Dutch Republic and Restoration England. The Dutch East Indies Company and the Royal Society, Clark argues, both express knowledge-driven enterprise and exploration.

Cosmos (DVD 4165)

This thirteen-part series, written and hosted by Carl Sagan, celebrates two thousand years of science and technology:

  • Part 6 (“Travelers’ Tales”) honors the science and commerce of the Dutch Republic. Using the Voyager program as a springboard, Sagan takes us to the 17th century Netherlands, whose tradition of sailing and trade made it the most prosperous nation during the Age of Exploration. The Dutch commercial republic, Sagan shows, prefigured ours. Business, science, technology, and freedom of thought went hand-in-hand. Cloth merchant Anton van Leeuwenhoek perfected the microscope and pioneered microbiology, while banker Constantijn Huygens sponsored and protected his son Christian, a radical astronomer.

Founding Fathers (DVD 301)

This two-part A&E documentary profiles the Founding Fathers and analyzes the economic as well as the political issues leading to the American Revolution. It also explains how business interests help to shape the Constitutional Convention. Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton are made to represent the new nation’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Industrial Revolution (DVD 5501)

This three-part program, sponsored by the Liberty Fund, explores the English Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Hosted by Ben Hogg, it includes lectures by Nobel economist Ronald Coase and business historian Max Hartwell.

  • Part 1 (“The Great Discontinuity”)identifies and defines the Industrial Revolution, traces its causes in innovation and enterprises, and profiles it major figures, including Richard Arkwright, James Watt, and Josiah Wedgewood.
  • Part 2 (“Freedom Under Law”)
  • Part 3 (“A Magnificent Century”) documents how Great Britain became “the workshop of the world” and confronted and overcame overpopulation, urbanization, income disparity, and radicalism.

Life and Thought of Friedrich Hayek (DVD 8518)

This documentary, part of the Liberty Fund’s Intellectual Portrait Series, discusses the life and work of Nobel economist and defines and illustrates his central ideas, such as the division of knowledge and spontaneous order.

The Ascent of Money: The Financial History of the World(DVD 7204)

This four-part series, hosted by Niall Fergusson, presents 600 years of business history:

  • Part 1 (“From Bullion to Bubbles”) documents the roots of money and finance in the conquest of the Americas, from the Incan empire to the Louisiana territory. It also discusses the Medici banking dynasty.
  • Part 2 (“Bonds of War”) discusses John Law and his Louisiana territory Ponzi scheme, bond-driven warfare in Europe, and the economic colonization of the Far East.
  • Part 3 (“Risky Business”) examines the roots of the European insurance industry, the financial fallouts from natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, risk management in Japan and Chile, and the risks and rewards of hedge funds.
  • Part 4 (“Planet Finance”) chronicles the historical spread of good and bad financial practices across the globe, the meteoric rise of the American real estate market, and the far-reaching consequences of the subprime mortgage fiasco.

The Republic of Commerce

Chicago: City of the Century (DVD 6735)

This three-part documentary, part of the PBS series American Experience, chronicles Chicago's dramatic transformation from a swampy frontier town of fur traders and Native Americans to a massive metropolis that was the quintessential American city of the 19th century. The film tells how innovation, ingenuity, determination and ruthlessness created empires in what was a marshy wasteland and describes the hardships endured by millions of working men and women whose labor helped a capitalist class reinvent the way America did business.

  • Part 1 (“Mudhole to Metropolis”) covers the city’s early years, from fur outposts and the Erie Canal and McCormick reaper and the Chicago Fire.

Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (DVD 5054)

Ken Burns’ documentary dramatizes the Western expedition that transformed America from a coastal collection of a dozen former colonies to a continental empire of trade and transportation.

Media History (DVD 7437)

This program surveys the history of mass media, using photomation and archival footage and interviews with academic and industry experts. Early segments discuss the invention and impact of Guttenberg’s printing press and Samuel Morse’s telegraph. Morse’s first message (“What hath God wrought?”) was prophetic, for his creation miraculously sped up human communication and shortened physical distance.

The Plow that Broke the Plains (DVD 3717)

This classic Depression documentary, with a haunting folk score by Virgil Thomson, contains unforgettable montages of amber waves of grain, the vast plains of wheat Cyrus McCormick and John Deere sought to harvest.

Thomas Jefferson (DVD 5055)

Ken Burns’ two-part documentary profiles America’s third president and the author of the Declaration of Independence, who opposed his country’s early and enthusiastic commitment to trade and commerce. The opening to Part Two depicts Jefferson’s battle with his arch-nemesis Alexander Hamilton, whose vision of an urban and industrial America was destined to triumph.

The West (DVD 6023)

Ken Burns wrote, directed, and produced this sweeping seven-part epic. Some highlights:

  • Episode 2 (“Empire upon Trails”) examines the economic causes behind Western expansion in the early 19th century.
  • Episode 3 (“Speck of the Future”) documents the 1849 California Gold Rush. The chapter “Emporium of the Pacific” deals specifically with such San Francisco entrepreneurs as Sam Brannan, Levi Strauss, and Joshua Abraham Norton.
  • Part 5 (“The Greatest Enterprise Under God”) celebrates the building of the transcontinental railroad and profiles such business leaders as Leland Sanford.

Robber Barons and Reformers

Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel (DVD 364)

This documentary examines the transformation of the American steel industry in the late 19th century by analyzing Andrew Carnegie’s innovations in production and marketing as well as his complicated relationship with other steel magnates such as Henry Clay Frick.

Andrew Carnegie, Prince of Steel (DVD 2590)

This A&E biography provides a more intimate and complex profile of Carnegie and shows how he embodied the contradictions of his time. As a cutthroat businessman, he practiced and preached Social Darwinism. As a philanthropist and an educator, he believed in helping the poor and propagating democracy.

Chicago: City of the Century (DVD 6735)

This three-part documentary, part of the PBS series American Experience, explains how Chicagorose from the ashes of the Great Fire to become the quintessential American city at the turn of the 20th century. Innovation, ingenuity, determination and ruthlessness created empires whilemillions of workers, whose labor helped a capitalist class reinvent the way America did business, endured the hardship and squalor of the tenements and the stockyards. This injustice sparked protest and violence.

  • Part 2 (“The Revolution is Here”) presents a pageant of successful but sometimes controversial entrepreneurs: Philip Armour, Marshall Field, George Pullman, Gustavus Swift, and Charles Yerkes
  • Part 3 (“The Battle for Chicago”) profiles the radicals, reformers, and reporters who opposed them, such as Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells, and Upton Sinclair, but ends with the vision of progress embodied in the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Clockwork (DVD 6547)

This documentary shows the impact of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of scientific management, on American industry, society, and culture. Without Taylor’s ideas and methods, America never would have become the world’s greatest economic power, but what collective price have we paid for efficiency?

Corporation with a Camera (DVD 7672)

This documentary chronicles the United Fruit Company’s conquest of Latin America at the turn of the 20th century. Later segments discuss U.S. government and corporate influence in the so-called banana republics. The company archival footage is unforgettable and deeply disturbing. After seeing this film, you’ll never eat a Chiquita banana again.

Ken Burns America Collection (DVD 6411)

Disc 1 (“Brooklyn Bridge”) celebrates the conception and construction of this symbolic landmark and honors the ambition and genius of its creators, John and Washington Roebling, perhaps America’s greatest civil engineers, who were also shrewd businessmen.

Media History (DVD 7437)

This program surveys the history of mass media, using photomation and archival footage and interviews with academic and industry experts. Later segments explore radio. During the 1920s and ’30s, radio dominated entertainment and the news, changed America’s social habits, and fueled a new culture of consumption.

Nikola Tesla: The Genius Who Lit the World (DVD 7303)

This independent documentary focuses on the so-called “current wars” between native born Thomas Edison, the defender of direct current (DC), and Serbian immigrant Nikola Tesla, a proponent of alternative current (AC) and the inventor of the induction motor. Tesla’s device eventually powered America, from industrial dynamos to household appliances.

Orson Welles: The Legend Collection (DVD 6705)

This six-disc set contains two classic business movies dealing with the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era:

  • Citizen Kane, the tragedy of a newspaper tycoon, based on William Randolph Hearst.
  • The Magnificent Ambersons, an adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, chronicles the decline and fall of a prosperous Midwestern mercantile family before the forces of industrialization. The famous dinner-table scene debates the new automobile’s impact on American life.

Tesla: Master of Lighting (DVD 721)

This PBS documentary recounts the life of scientist, inventor, and visionary Nikola Tesla, often remembered as more of an eccentric cult figure than an electrical engineering genius. Because he ignored marketing and finance, his achievements are often attributed to his contemporaries Thomas Edison and Guglielmo Marconi. The program draws on Tesla's autobiographical and scientific writings, supplemented by rare photographs and dramatic recreations.

The Buccaneers (DVD 762)

This mini-series, an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s last novel, gives viewers an intimate glimpse of the Gilded Age, contrasting the manners and mores of the American business class with those of the British aristocracy. A bonus disc features a biography of Wharton herself and documents the lifestyle of such New York merchant princes as the Astors and the Vanderbilts.

The Corporation (DVD 1054)

The provocative documentary, written and directed by Jennifer Abbott and Michael Achbar, shows the development of the modern corporation, from a legal entity that originated as a government-chartered institution meant to affect specific public functions, to the rise of the modern commercial institution entitled to most of the legal rights of a person. The second and third chapters (“Birth” and “A Legal Person”) concentrate on the American corporation’s genesis at the turn of the 19th century and highlight the 1886 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite declared corporations are “persons,” having the same rights as human beings, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.