Timber and Men

by Ralph Willard Hidy

Story of Weyerhaueser

704 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

A specialist in the history of modern business, Ralph Willard Hidy received an A.B. in history from Miami University in 1926, an M.A. from Clark University in 1928, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1935. Throughout his long career as a historian, Hidy worked at such respected institutions as Norwich University (1928-1930), Wheaton College (1932-1947), New York University (1950-1957), and Harvard University (1957-1971).

Reviews

[Bhall · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book was a bit tedious at the start and strong on fact and weak on reason at times, I did enjoy this book for three reasons:
1) Was fascinating as a history of how conglomerates are created through shared risk and reward, especially the early chapters about midwest (then called northwest, but wisconsin, minnesota) business.
2) as native of Washington learned a bunch about areas I know in the NW but didn't know as being very influenced by early forestry. similarly didn't know all the companies that were really part of weyerhaueser.
3) government and tax impact on forestry, e.g. early land acquisition model and tax structure in '30s that encouraged clear cut or slash and burn.

Good read, skim aggressively though.