The study of Panhandle Eastern's history shows the relationship between regulatory policy and the modern corporation in the twentieth century from a unique perspective, for it extends over three eras. This book shows how entrepreneurs competed, first, in an unregulated industry through the exercise of unrestrained corporate muscle, then as it became increasingly regulated and profitable, and finally in the era of business reorganization and deregulation when regulators changed the structure of the pipeline industry.

The study of Panhandle Eastern's history shows the relationship between regulatory policy and the modern corporation in the twentieth century from a unique perspective, for it extends over three eras. This book shows how entrepreneurs competed, first, in an unregulated industry through the exercise of unrestrained corporate muscle, then as it became increasingly regulated and profitable, and finally in the era of business reorganization and deregulation when regulators changed the structure of the pipeline industry.

Immediately after World War II, several Houston-based firms organized to transport natural gas from the giant fields of the Southwest to the large utility companies that distributed energy in the urban-industrial centers along the East coast. This relatively inexpensive and clean-burning fuel quickly made spectacular inroads into markets previously served by coal and petroleum.
Texas Eastern was one of the major competitors in the post-war industry. The company's origins were unique. Early in 1947, a group of entrepreneurs led by Herman and George R. Brown, founders of the Brown & Root...

Herman and George R. Brown, formidable figures in the construction industry and Texas politics, were an almost perfect business team. Practical and decisive Herman, a natural builder, and university trained, soft-spoken George, a natural salesperson, combined their individual strengths with their shared strong work ethic and ambition and developed Brown and Root, a company that began by building roads and grew into a diversified international construction company. "Builders" serves both as a history of their lives and as an examination of business life in mid-twentieth-century America....