LUGAGNAC, France, Oct. 4, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Anspach, whose Anti-Monopoly game triggered a reaction from the producers of Monopoly (General Mills/Parker Brothers), tells his story with humor and suspense. The Ivory Tower professor turned business man turned paralegal becomes a detective who uncovers the swindle behind Monopoly. His tale starts with start-up blues and then turns into a court room drama which proves that Monopoly was invented and propagated by left-wing American anti-monopolists.
The Swindle: The CEO of Parker Brothers monopolizes Monopoly through a fraudulent invention patent with which he destroys the competition. The monopoly profits roll in and the company is pulled out of threatening bankruptcy. A fake inventor is fabricated and turned into a celebrated American hero of enterprise, the true invention history is suppressed, and a cover-up operation kicks in.
Anspach's expose is embedded in the harrowing events surrounding his ultimately best-selling board game, Anti-Monopoly(r). A GO TO INJUNCTION card sent by Monopoly drove him out of business for ten years. Before he prevailed at the Supreme Court level, Monopoly hid away 40,000 Anti-Monopoly games as a warning to other competitors.
The real history of Monopoly is full of unexpected twists. The basic concept behind this was invented by a betrayed woman who detested monopolism. It was popularized during the trustbusting era around the turn of the century by a monopoly-hating professor. (The real inventors banked erroneously on players understanding that they got rich in a sleazy way -- by price gouging renters and consumers.) Finally, it was transformed into Monopoly(r) by a community of Atlantic City Quaker teachers known for their humanitarianism.
The book is available at your local book retailer or online at Xlibris.com and at Antimonopoly.com.
About the Author
Ralph Anspach is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at San Francisco State University and author of two books and many professional articles. His academic specialty is the real Adam Smith who exalted the market but only when it is not perverted by monopolism. He had a perilous childhood in Hitler's Germany and then soldiered with the U.S. army in the Philippines and fought with the army of Israel during its war of independence. He was also a university student in Paris, construction stiff in Morocco, a secret code clerk with the U.S. army in Germany, and an exchange professor in Indonesia. He invented the Anti-Monopoly game in response to the 1970s OPEC oil boycott. (Contact: anti-monopoly@juno.com)
Monopolygate * by Ralph Anspach
During a David and Goliath Battle, the Inventor of the
Anti-Monopoly(r) Game Uncovers the Secret History of Monopoly(r)
Publication Date: November 21, 2005
Trade Paperback; $19.54; 320 pages; 978-0-7388-3139-8
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7836. Tear sheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x.7876.