Ages of American Capitalism

Prodigiously researched, elegantly written, and relentlessly interesting . . . Ages of American Capitalism deftly weaves strands of economic, business, political, social and intellectual history into an engaging, accessible narrative. -The Washington Post Prodigious . . . a vivid social and geopolitical history. -Boston Review It is impossible to understand the United States without understanding its economic history. This book, from one of the nation's foremost historians of capitalism, brings that important and endlessly fascinating story to life, taking the reader on a whirlwind tour of plantations and factories, boardrooms and government offices. If you want to get a better sense of where we are, think about how we got here. -Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton Ages of American Capitalism is a monumental achievement. Jonathan Levy has crafted an economic history that rivals Eric Hobsbawm's and Charles Kindleberger's in ambition, augmented by a thorough analysis of the legal and political currents that have shaped economic change across 350 years. -Zachary D. Carter, author of The Price of Peace A remarkably shrewd, sweeping, and entertaining history of American capitalism that strikes at the heart of one of the great American fallacies: that markets can ever be separated from society, politics, and history. -Richard White, author of The Republic for Which It Stands American capitalism is in crisis. To know how to get out of the mess, you need to know how we got into it. That takes a historian. This is a book with the ambition and originality of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. . . . Unputdownable. -James Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail In this monumental work, Jonathan Levy has written a history of economic life in the United States that puts capital back at the center of our nation's history. In his sophisticated yet accessible assessment, Levy shows how the institutions that define the meaning and purpose of capital have evolved rather dramatically over the past few centuries, transforming not only the nation but the meaning of capitalism itself. Ages of American Capitalism is a splendid book. -Stephen Mihm, author of A Nation of Counterfeiters The sprawling saga of a national economy that has gone through several phases, the lion's share of ownership becoming ever narrower . . . Levy is an uncommonly lucid interpreter of numbers and theories and a nimble explainer. A rewarding exercise in understanding where we are and how we got there. -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)