Merchants and manufacturers Book

Porter and Livesay provide a detailed outline of the development of market concentration during the 1800s. There general thesis is that the merchant controlled the market for goods and services in the early 1800s, but it was the producer that controlled the markets in the late 1880s. Using the rail, tobacco, iron and steel industries as examples, Porter and Livesay show how markets transformed and how manufacturers began taking on the duty of "financier" of business and industry.

This book is more of a study of macroeconomics than marketing, despite the title of the book. Marketing deals with channels, pricing, product, and promotion, but Porter and Livesay largely focus their study on channels (merchant, wholesaler, manufacturers). Thus, the reader will not learn about factors that led to price dynamics in the 1800s, nor the various forms of promotion that were used to educated and inform consumers about new and existing products and services being offered by both merchants and manufacturers.

The authors' copious use of footnotes will assist those engaged in an in-depth study of macroeconomic changes in the United States during the 1880s. Admittedly, the authors' style of writing is a bit dry at times, but that does not detract from overall quality of the book and the ability of the authors to attain their objective of introducing the reader to market development.