Holbrook wrote in the first half of the 20th century about the businesses and characters that built the United States. His approach was not one of fawning adoration, rather he focussed on the quirks and oddities. He wrote in an irreverent popular style, yet the quality of the history in excellent. Think of him as a cranky David McCullough.

Age Of Moguls is a series of biographies/portraits of the big actors in building the business that built this country.Buy this book and any anything else you can find of his.

I really enjoyed Holbrook's technique of depicting history through as an inter-related web of ideas and historical personalities. As an exmple, his explanation of the underlying motiviations for Prohibition were very insightful. It was also exciting to see the evolution of the modern penitentiary system, mental hospitals, Oneida silverware and the graham cracker. These are all things that are a part of modern life and reading this history helped me to understand why they are they way they are.