Land of promise : an economic history of the United States

A sweeping and original work of economic history by Michael Lind, one of America’s leading intellectuals, __Land of Promise__ recounts the epic story of America’s rise to become the world’s dominant economy. As ideological free marketers continue to square off against Keynesians in Congress and the press, economic policy remains at the center of political debate. __Land of Promise__: __An Economic History of the United States__ offers a much-needed historical framework that sheds new light on our past—wisdom that offers lessons essential to our future. Building upon the strength and lucidity of his __New York Times__ Notable Books __The Next American Nation__ and __Hamilton’s Republic__, Lind delivers a necessary and revelatory examination of the roots of American prosperity—insight that will prove invaluable to anyone interested in exploring how we can move forward. In Land of Promise, bestselling author Michael Lind provides a groundbreaking account of how a weak collection of former British colonies became an industrial, financial, and military colossus. From the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries, the American economy has been transformed by wave after wave of emerging technology: the steam engine, electricity, the internal combusion engine, computer technology. Yet technology-driven changes leads to growing misalignment between an innovative economy and anachronistic legal and political structures until the gap is closed by the modernization of America's institutions - often amid upheavals such as the Civil War and Reconstruction and the Great Depression and World War II. Against the dramatic backdrop of shattering tides of change, Land of Promise portrays the struggles and achievements of inventors like Thomas Edison and Samuel Morse; entrepreneurs like Henry Ford, John D. Rockerfeller, Andrew Carnegie, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs; financiers like J.P. Morgan; visionary political leaders like Henry Clay and Franklin Roosevelt; and dynamic policy makers like Alexander Hamilton and Vannevar Bush. Larger-than-life figures such as these share the stage with the ordinary Americans who built a superpower, from midwestern farmers, southern slaves, and the immigrants who created canals and railroads to the sisters of Rosie the Riveter, whose labor in factories during World War II helped to end Hitler's dream of world domination. When the U.S. economy has flourished, Lind argues, government and business, labor and universities, have worked together as partners in a never-ending project of economic nation building. As the United States struggles to emerge from the Great Recession, Land of Promise demonstrates that Americans, since the earliest days of the republic, have reinvented the American economy - and have the power to do so again. -- from dust jacket "[An] ambitious economic history of the united States...rich with details."?David Leonhardt, New York Times Book Review How did a weak collection of former British colonies become an industrial, financial, and military colossus? From the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries, the American economy has been transformed by wave after wave of emerging the steam engine, electricity, the internal combustion engine, computer technology. Yet technology-driven change leads to growing misalignment between an innovative economy and anachronistic legal and political structures until the gap is closed by the modernization of America's institutionsoften amid upheavals such as the Civil War and Reconstruction and the Great Depression and World War II. When the U.S. economy has flourished, government and business, labor and universities, have worked together in a never-ending project of economic nation building. As the United States struggles to emerge from the Great Recession, Michael Lind clearly demonstrates that Americans, since the earliest days of the republic, have reinvented the American economy - and have the power to do so again. A Land Of Promise -- The Preindustrial Economy -- Nation Building -- The First American Economy -- The Age Of Steam -- There Is Nothing That Cannot Be Produced By Machinery: The First Industrial Revolution -- American Systems -- Plain Mechanic Power: The Civil War And The Second Republic -- The Iron Horse And The Lightning -- The Motor Age -- Franklin's Baby: Electricity, Automobiles, And The Second Industrial Revolution -- The Day Of Combination -- The New Era -- A New Deal For America -- Arsenal Of Democracy -- The Glorious Thirty Years -- The Great Dismantling -- The Information Age -- As We May Think: The Third Industrial Revolution -- The Bubble Economy -- The Next American Economy. By Michael Lind. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Presents a historical perspective on the relationship between economic, technological, and political change by analyzing the economic growth of the United States over the course of two centuries.