by Andrew Bernstein

This course starts by describing the creative achievements of many of late-nineteenth-century America's greatest business heroes. Included are Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and others, but the focus is on the extraordinary but now largely forgotten Edward H. Harriman, "the Little Giant," who rebuilt much of America's railways.

But the course's emphasis is on moral evaluation. What were the specific accusations that anticapitalist intellectuals brought against these men? Are the accusations generally based on factual errors or on evaluations by means of corrupt moral theories—or both? How does Objectivism enable the industrialists' supporters to finally refute those charges? What are the major moral errors committed by the critics? By answering these questions, the course provides a fuller appreciation of the extraordinary achievements of productive giants, as well as the intellectual ammunition to disprove the leftists' scurrilous charges.

(Audio; 5-CD set; 5 hrs., 26 min., with Q & A)