This is planet money from NPR.
Earlier this fall, a federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, filed a high stakes lawsuit against Amazon.
Now, the FTC alleges that Amazon is a monopoly.
And the FTC accuses the company of using anti competitive tactics to hold on to its market power to keep that monopoly.
This is a huge case with implications for consumers and businesses and digital marketplaces and for antitrust law itself.
Antitrust is the highly important but somewhat obscure body of law that deals with competition and big business.
And so this week on Planet Money, we are doing a deep dive on antitrust.
Now, on Friday, we're going to have an interview with Lena Khan, who is the current chair of the FTC.
You know, really the person behind this big, high stakes lawsuit.
But today we have a planet money double feature.
We've got two classic episodes that tell the story of how the us government's approach to big business and competition has changed over time.
Part one is about a moment more than 100 years ago when it seemed like a few companies were taking over America and the government stepped into the free market in a big way to make competition work.
Here is that story.
It is really epic gold here.
Do you know which door we're supposed to go in front?
The history of breaking up big companies in America arguably starts at an old house in Titusville, Pennsylvania, the childhood home of a woman named Ida Tarbell.
The house is still standing.
It's actually just about 25 minutes from the small town where I grew up.
Hi here, Kenny.
I'm Kenny.