Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download American Colossus PDF full book. Access full book title American Colossus by H. W. Brands. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: H. W. Brands Publisher: Anchor ISBN: 0307386775 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 706
Book Description
From the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War: a "first-rate" narrative history (The New York Times) that brilliantly portrays the emergence, in a remarkably short time, of a recognizably modern America. American Colossus captures the decades between the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century, when a few breathtakingly wealthy businessmen transformed the United States from an agrarian economy to a world power. From the first Pennsylvania oil gushers to the rise of Chicago skyscrapers, this spellbinding narrative shows how men like Morgan, Carnegie, and Rockefeller ushered in a new era of unbridled capitalism. In the end America achieved unimaginable wealth, but not without cost to its traditional democratic values.
Author: H. W. Brands Publisher: Anchor ISBN: 0307386775 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 706
Book Description
From the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War: a "first-rate" narrative history (The New York Times) that brilliantly portrays the emergence, in a remarkably short time, of a recognizably modern America. American Colossus captures the decades between the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century, when a few breathtakingly wealthy businessmen transformed the United States from an agrarian economy to a world power. From the first Pennsylvania oil gushers to the rise of Chicago skyscrapers, this spellbinding narrative shows how men like Morgan, Carnegie, and Rockefeller ushered in a new era of unbridled capitalism. In the end America achieved unimaginable wealth, but not without cost to its traditional democratic values.
Author: Allen M. Hornblum Publisher: U of Nebraska Press ISBN: 149620431X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 520
Book Description
Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones, and Bill Tilden were the legendary quartet of the "Golden Age of Sports" in the 1920s. They transformed their respective athletic disciplines and captured the imagination of a nation. The indisputable force behind the emergence of professional tennis as a popular and lucrative sport, Tilden's on-court accomplishments are nothing short of staggering. The first American‑born player to win Wimbledon and a seven‑time winner of the U.S. singles championship, he was the number 1 ranked player for ten straight years. A tall, flamboyant player with a striking appearance, Tilden didn't just play; he performed with a singular style that separated him from other top athletes. Tilden was a showman off the court as well. He appeared in numerous comedies and dramas on both stage and screen and was a Renaissance man who wrote more than two dozen fiction and nonfiction books, including several successful tennis instructions books. But Tilden had a secret--one he didn't fully understand himself. After he left competitive tennis in the late 1940s, he faced a lurid fall from grace when he was arrested after an incident involving an underage boy in his car. Tilden served seven months in prison and later attempted to explain his questionable behavior to the public, only to be ostracized from the tennis circuit. Despite his glorious career in tennis, his final years were much constrained and lived amid considerable public shunning. Tilden's athletic accomplishments remain, as he is arguably the best American player ever. American Colossus is a thorough account of his life, bringing a much-needed look back at one of the world's greatest athletes and a person whose story is as relevant as ever.
Author: William J. Brown Publisher: Lulu.com ISBN: 0578012618 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 270
Book Description
The first full-length history of the American grain elevator, from 1843 to 1943. Eight black and white illustrations, appendix, index, bibliography.
Author: Jack Beatty Publisher: Currency ISBN: 0767909577 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 528
Book Description
Big business has been the lever of big change over time in American life, change in economy, society, politics, and the envelope of existence--in work, mores, language, consciousness, and the pace and bite of time. Such is the pattern revealed by this historical mosaic. --From the Preface Weaving historical source material with his own incisive analysis, Jack Beatty traces the rise of the American corporation, from its beginnings in the 17th century through today, illustrating how it has come to loom colossus-like over the economy, society, culture, and politics. Through an imaginative selection of readings made up of historical and contemporary documents, opinion pieces, reportage, biographies, company histories, and scenes from literature, all introduced and explicated by Beatty, Colossus makes a convincing case that it is the American corporation that has been, for good and ill, the primary maker and manager of change in modern America. In this anthology, readers are shown how a developing "business civilization" has affected domestic life in America, how labor disputes have embodied a struggle between freedom and fraternity, how corporate leaders have faced the recurring dilemma of balancing fiduciary with social responsibility, and how Silicon Valley and Wall Street have come to dwarf Capitol Hill in pervasiveness of influence. From the slave trade and the transcontinental railroad to the software giants and the multimedia conglomerates, Colossus reveals how the corporation emerged as the foundation of representative government in the United States, as the builder of the young nation's public works, as the conqueror of American space, and as the inexhaustible engine of economic growth from the Civil War to today. At the same time, Colossus gives perspective to the century-old debate over the corporation's place in the good society. A saga of freedom and domination, success and failure, creativity and conformity, entrepreneurship and monopoly, high purpose and low practice, Colossus is a major historical achievement.
Author: Niall Ferguson Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 110166679X Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
Is America an empire? Certainly not, according to our government. Despite the conquest of two sovereign states in as many years, despite the presence of more than 750 military installations in two thirds of the world’s countries and despite his stated intention "to extend the benefits of freedom...to every corner of the world," George W. Bush maintains that "America has never been an empire." "We don’t seek empires," insists Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. "We’re not imperialistic." Nonsense, says Niall Ferguson. In Colossus he argues that in both military and economic terms America is nothing less than the most powerful empire the world has ever seen. Just like the British Empire a century ago, the United States aspires to globalize free markets, the rule of law, and representative government. In theory it’s a good project, says Ferguson. Yet Americans shy away from the long-term commitments of manpower and money that are indispensable if rogue regimes and failed states really are to be changed for the better. Ours, he argues, is an empire with an attention deficit disorder, imposing ever more unrealistic timescales on its overseas interventions. Worse, it’s an empire in denial—a hyperpower that simply refuses to admit the scale of its global responsibilities. And the negative consequences will be felt at home as well as abroad. In an alarmingly persuasive final chapter Ferguson warns that this chronic myopia also applies to our domestic responsibilities. When overstretch comes, he warns, it will come from within—and it will reveal that more than just the feet of the American colossus is made of clay.
Author: Henry Miller Publisher: New Directions Publishing ISBN: 0811218570 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Henry Miller’s landmark travel book, now reissued in a new edition, is ready to be stuffed into any vagabond’s backpack. Like the ancient colossus that stood over the harbor of Rhodes, Henry Miller’s The Colossus of Maroussi stands as a seminal classic in travel literature. It has preceded the footsteps of prominent travel writers such as Pico Iyer and Rolf Potts. The book Miller would later cite as his favorite began with a young woman’s seductive description of Greece. Miller headed out with his friend Lawrence Durrell to explore the Grecian countryside: a flock of sheep nearly tramples the two as they lie naked on a beach; the Greek poet Katsmbalis, the “colossus” of Miller’s book, stirs every rooster within earshot of the Acropolis with his own loud crowing; cold hard-boiled eggs are warmed in a village’s single stove, and they stay in hotels that “have seen better days, but which have an aroma of the past.”
Author: Albert P. Heiner Publisher: Plunkett Lake Press ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 695
Book Description
Henry John Kaiser (1882-1967) was an American industrialist known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, and for fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, Kaiser’s company was one of those that built the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams. He established the Kaiser Shipyards, which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care for his workers and their families. He led the automobile companies Kaiser-Frazer and Kaiser Motors. Kaiser invested in real estate, later moving into television broadcasting. He established the Kaiser Family Foundation, a charitable organization. “Albert Heiner has written a captivating story of one of the strongest personalities ever to dominate the American scene and he has done it with skill. Henry J. Kaiser was quite as Heiner depicts him and as I knew him — an incredible business genius and fascinating personality.” — Norman Vincent Peale “Through a good portion of Henry J. Kaiser’s career, Al Heiner was there — as a public relations officer for Kaiser Steel, but also as an eye-witness to many of the events that make this biography such lively reading. He then supplemented these firsthand experiences with extensive research in the massive Kaiser Archives now on deposit at the Bancroft Library at Berkeley. This biography teems with vivid, frequently tumultuous anecdotes, each of them set- pieces of skilled narrative.” — Kevin Starr, Author and Historian “In the fifties, the moment I saw the pilot for the television show ‘The Maverick’ I said, ‘that’s Mr. Kaiser.’ I flew out to Hawaii and met with him, and when he saw the picture he flipped, because he saw himself as James Garner... The Maverick. In my opinion he was one of the great showmen of our day and he had fantastic foresight as to how to sell the Kaiser company. I agree with your appraisal of him as one of the great American pioneers.” — Leonard H. Goldenson, Retired Chairman, American Broadcasting Company “Henry J’s extraordinary life, his relish for work and the results of his dreams are fondly described with a particular warmth that could only be captured by an author who witnessed much of the saga.” — Gene Trefethen, Retired President, Kaiser Industries Corporation
Author: Niall Ferguson Publisher: Penguin UK ISBN: 0241958725 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
Is America the new world empire? Presidents from Lincoln to Bush may have denied it but, as Niall Ferguson's brilliant and provocative book shows, the US is in many ways the greatest imperial power of all time. What's more, it always has been an empire, expanding westwards throughout the nineteenth century and rising to global dominance in the twentieth. But is today's American colossus really equipped to play Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders? The United States, Ferguson reveals, is an empire running on empty, weakened by chronic defecits of money, manpower and political will. When the New Rome falls, he warns, its collapse may come from within. 'One of the timeliest and most topical books to have appeared in recent years' Literary Review 'Yet another tour de force from a writer who displays all his usual gifts of forceful polemic, unconventional intelligence and elegant prose ... guaranteed to spark fierce debate' Irish Times 'A bravura exploration of why Americans are not cut out to be imperialists but nonetheless have an empire. Vigorous, substantive, and worrying' Timothy Garton Ash
Author: Adrian Goldsworthy Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300139195 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 592
Book Description
This “captivating biography” of the great Roman general “puts Caesar’s war exploits on full display, along with his literary genius” and more (The New York Times) Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of the Julius Caesar’s life, Adrian Goldsworthy not only chronicles his accomplishments as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful dictator but also lesser-known chapters during which he was high priest of an exotic cult and captive of pirates, and rebel condemned by his own country. Goldsworthy also reveals much about Caesar’s intimate life, as husband and father, and as seducer not only of Cleopatra but also of the wives of his two main political rivals. This landmark biography examines Caesar in all of these roles and places its subject firmly within the context of Roman society in the first century B.C. Goldsworthy realizes the full complexity of Caesar’s character and shows why his political and military leadership continues to resonate thousands of years later.
Author: Marshall Goldberg Publisher: Diversion Books ISBN: 1626812659 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 385
Book Description
Greed. Corruption. Murder. New York in 1880 is a hell of a place to make your living. Nellie Bly arrives at age twenty-four in Manhattan, lacking connections and money, but blessed with an abundance of courage and a skill for reportage. Within ten months she lands two front-page stories on the country’s most widely-read newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. The pugnacious and voluble Pulitzer is so impressed that he assigns her to get to the bottom of a murder that has confounded the police—the untimely death of his friend Emma Lazarus, the controversial poet and activist. Her investigation leads to tense encounters with some of the most powerful and ruthless men of the time, in an era where elected officials are bought and sold, and where greed runs rampant on an unregulated Wall Street. Outgunned and ignoring her contemptuous all-male colleagues, Bly has only two real allies: a doctor who uses scientific techniques to establish criminal behavior, and a theater critic with unlimited access to underground New York. As the pieces fall into place, Bly uncovers layer after layer of corruption, getting closer to a dangerous core—and to the truth.
Author: H. W. Brands
Author: H. W. Brands
Author: Allen M. Hornblum
Author: William J. Brown
Author: Jack Beatty
Author: Niall Ferguson
Author: Henry Miller
Author: Albert P. Heiner
Author: Niall Ferguson
Author: Adrian Goldsworthy
Author: Marshall Goldberg