From Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and Cornelius Vanderbilt to Steve
Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Gates, with Madam C.J. Walker, Martha
Stewart, Jay-Z, and many more in-between, An Illustrated Business
History of the United States is a sweeping, lively, and highly
approachable history of American business from the nation's founding to
the twenty-first century.
Author Richard Vague divides this history into fourteen eras, with each
era featuring lists of the wealthiest individuals, notable inventions,
and companies founded, and the largest organizations, banks, and
insurance companies. Much of the data to create these lists stems from
original research, and the book contains a wealth of primary business
information extended and supplemented on a companion website.
Major themes include the nation's business beginnings in land and real
estate, the pivotal place of financial institutions from the nation's
earliest days, America's emergence as an industrial powerhouse, its
outsized innovations, the dominance of its railways, automobiles, and
other transportation companies, and the ever-changing role of
government. As the book moves to the contemporary era, it highlights the
merchandising of comfort, entertainment, and controversy, and looks to
the future as it touches on the potential of emerging industries such as
genetic engineering, green energy, and virtual reality.
A must read for any student of American history, the book covers both
catastrophe and triumph, innovation and failure, and provides a crucial
context for a better understanding of the nation's political and social
history. Lushly illustrated with 300 color images, it is equally
rewarding for those who want to read it cover to cover and those who
prefer to focus on select eras of special interest.
