Privatization or New Niagara

Privatization: An Economic Analysis

Author: John Vickers

The process of selling assests and enterprises to the private sector raises questions about natural monopolies, the efficiency and equity of state-owned versus privately owned enterprises, and industrial policy. This comprehensive analysis of the British privatization program explores these questions both theoretically and empirically.

Interesting book: Man Eating Bugs or A Midwest Gardeners Cookbook

New Niagara: Tourism, Technology and the Landscape of Niagara Falls, 1776-1917

Author: William Irwin

Visitors may wonder how Niagara Falls came to be the site of magnificent bridges, a famous cereal factory, and a picturesque New York state reservation designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Although many have always admired the natural splendor of the Falls, William Irwin explains that it was not until the mid-1800s that Niagara truly captured the American imagination. With the coming of John Roebling's railway suspension bridge in 1855 came the promise of a "new" Niagara, one in which nature and technology could flourish in harmony. Although some saw the transformation of Niagara Falls as a national shame, for many others it stimulated utopian visions of a great modern America. Tourists flocked to a place that showcased both the beauty of nature and the marvels of technology. Companies such as Shredded Wheat (later absorbed by Nabisco) fed on the public's expectations of novel and revolutionary progress at Niagara. The Shredded Wheat factory and the Niagara Power Company became tourist attractions in their own right. Some developers went so far as to claim that their works exceeded Niagara's natural beauty. By taking us back to a period when Niagara Falls was appreciated as much for its utopian promise as for its natural beauty, The New Niagara reveals America's remarkable romance with technology and its faith in human mastery of the environment.

Table of Contents:

	List of Illustrations
	Acknowledgments
	Introduction
1	Awakening to Niagara: Early American Development and Tourism at Niagara Falls	1
2	Bridge to a New Niagara	31
3	Preserving Niagara and Creating the State Reservation	63
4	Capturing the Falls: Power, Powerhouses, and the Electricity Age	97
5	Electricity's Throne: Niagara Falls and the Utopian Impulse	131
6	The Spirit of Niagara: Niagara Falls and the Pan-American Exposition of 1901	153
7	"The Wonder of the Age": Shredded Wheat and the Natural Food Company's Model Factory	179
	Epilogue	205
	Notes	229
	Index	263