American Entrepreneur

PREFACE

Few, if any, books attempt to combine a comprehensive business history of the United States with basic economic history. Moreover, those that do approach either business or economic history do so from an “institutional” perspective, focusing on big corporations and, oddly, government actions. In American Entrepreneur, our aim is not only to combine business and economic history, but to tell it in an entertaining and informative way by focusing on the individuals who made America’s economy the greatest in the world.

This sweeping story begins with the logical and yet exceptional development of early merchants such as Thomas Hancock, who ...