Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism

An absorbing and original narrative history of American capitalism NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY THE ECONOMIST From  the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a  place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in  pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a  four-hundred-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition  through a series of Next Big Things -- the inventions, techniques, and  industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the  railroad, guns, radio, and banking to flight, suburbia, and sneakers,  culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the  twenty-first century. The result is a thrilling alternative history of  modern America that reframes events, trends, and people we thought we  knew through the prism of the value that, for better or for worse, this  nation holds dearest: capitalism.  In a winning, accessible  style, Bhu Srinivasan boldly takes on four centuries of American  enterprise, revealing the unexpected connections that link them. We  learn how Andrew Carnegie's early job as a telegraph messenger boy paved  the way for his leadership of the steel empire that would make him one  of the nation's richest men; how the gunmaker Remington reinvented  itself in the postwar years to sell typewriters; how the inner workings  of the Mafia mirrored the trend of consolidation and regulation in more  traditional business; and how a 1950s infrastructure bill triggered a  series of events that produced one of America's most enduring brands:  KFC. Reliving the heady early days of Silicon Valley, we are reminded  that the start-up is an idea as old as America itself. Entertaining, eye-opening, and sweeping in its reach, Americana is an exhilarating new work of narrative history.