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Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: AudiobookHub Recommendation
Chapter 2: Parker Brothers concocted a Monopoly origin myth to keep competitors and imitators firmly at bay.
Chapter 3: Monopoly originally drew from a game named The Landlord’s Game, created by Elizabeth Magie.
Chapter 4: Players adapted the game to mirror local realities. On the East Coast, it was called 'Monopoly'.
Chapter 5: Parker Brothers used patents and cash to conceal Monopoly’s origins and to secure its ownership rights.
Chapter 6: An economics professor sought to create an 'Anti-Monopoly' game, but Parker Brothers said no.
Chapter 7: Was 'monopoly' a generic term, like aspirin, zipper, or yo-yo? The courts would decide.
Chapter 8: Parker Brothers tried to buy off Anspach, but he pressed for a trial—and lost the fight in court.
Chapter 9: The Supreme Court stepped in, and Anspach ultimately prevailed. Yet the truth still lies in shadow.
Description
The Monopolists (2015) unveils the true yet checkered history of Parker Brothers's most successful board game, Monopoly. It tells the tale of the game’s origins in progressive, anti-capitalist thinking to its evolution under the control of Parker Brothers, a company that went to extraordinary lengths to rewrite Monopoly’s history and crush any competition in the process.
Who Should Listen
- Fans of the board game Monopoly
- Lawyers or specialists in trademark or property rights laws
- Historians or popular culture fanatics