Imminent Domain
I got this book because of the recent flap about imminent domain. I had the mistaken impression that the taking of private property and giving it to other private parties was a recent development. This book cleared that up very nicely. The Federal and State governments have been taking private property and giving it to other private citizens since the Republic began. An example of an early taking that was labeled as "public use" was the allowing of grain mills to build dams for power and flood your land without any reimbursement, for the good of the community.
Voltaire wrote, in Candide, "private misfortunes are public benefits, so that the more private misfortunes there are the greater is the general good." Governments stealing from there citizens for "the general good" is nothing new.