First Published in 1994. This comprehensive work views U.S. history through the analytical framework of the capitalist process. The highlights of the book are: it weaves together economic history with the history of economic ideas to give a new perspective on the contemporary connections between the economic and social processes; provides an analytical and historical explanation of capitalism as a socioeconomic system; discusses the past and present functioning of the business system, as 'a system of power', with emphasis on the 1970s, 1980s and the stagnation of the 1990s; analyses the relationship between structures of income, wealth and power and class, color and gender; and critically looks at the development and nature of the capitalist state.

Since the 18th Century, Americans have engaged in the pursuit of happiness through the consumption of material things. It is written in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution that Americans have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Interestingly, the pursuit has resulted in suicide for more white males 65 years old and over than any other age group. Louisiana is the second most unhealthiest state in America, and 40 million Americans live without any health insurance. These signs of unhappiness have continued to evolve over time. By 1950, Americans produced $43.7 billion worth of manufactured goods, and by 1958, $141 billion. The average annual salary for males was $2,831 in 1958; $1,559 for females. During this time, the American household was classified as husband-wife. In 1920, 86.0 percent were husband-wife; by 1960, this percent declined to 70.0 percent. Divorce accelerated by 1960. During the 1950s, the husband-wife household was already rapidly giving way to a new form-"Single-Parent." If this pursuit of happiness through object consumption is working, then, the reverse would be true. To grasp the social decay occurring in American society today, it is essential to understand the 1920 to 1960 period.

From the legendary former Fed Chairman and the acclaimed Economist writer and historian, the full, epic story of America's evolution from a small patchwork of threadbare colonies to the most powerful engine of wealth and innovation the world has ever seen. Shortlisted for the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award From even the start of his fabled career, Alan Greenspan was duly famous for his deep understanding of even the most arcane corners of the American economy, and his restless curiosity to know even more. To the extent possible, he has made a science of understanding how the US economy works almost as a living organism--how it grows and changes, surges and stalls. He has made a particular study of the question of productivity growth, at the heart of which is the riddle of innovation. Where does innovation come from, and how does it spread through a society? And why do some eras see the fruits of innovation spread more democratically, and others, including our own, see the opposite? In Capitalism in America, Greenspan distills a lifetime of grappling with these questions into a thrilling and profound master reckoning with the decisive drivers of the US economy over the course of its history. In partnership with the celebrated Economist journalist and historian Adrian Wooldridge, he unfolds a tale involving vast landscapes, titanic figures, triumphant breakthroughs, enlightenment ideals as well as terrible moral failings. Every crucial debate is here--from the role of slavery in the antebellum Southern economy to the real impact of FDR's New Deal to America's violent mood swings in its openness to global trade and its impact. But to read Capitalism in America is above all to be stirred deeply by the extraordinary productive energies unleashed by millions of ordinary Americans that have driven this country to unprecedented heights of power and prosperity. At heart, the authors argue, America's genius has been its unique tolerance for the effects of creative destruction, the ceaseless churn of the old giving way to the new, driven by new people and new ideas. Often messy and painful, creative destruction has also lifted almost all Americans to standards of living unimaginable to even the wealthiest citizens of the world a few generations past. A sense of justice and human decency demands that those who bear the brunt of the pain of change be protected, but America has always accepted more pain for more gain, and its vaunted rise cannot otherwise be understood, or its challenges faced, without recognizing this legacy. For now, in our time, productivity growth has stalled again, stirring up the populist furies. There's no better moment to apply the lessons of history to the most pressing question we face, that of whether the United States will preserve its preeminence, or see its leadership pass to other, inevitably less democratic powers.

"As I could say also of Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn: there's no one in my life from whom I've learned more than my friend and mentor Douglas Dowd. I have been strengthened in my determination to help make good our country's so-far broken promises." --Daniel Ellsberg "A master reference work by a guy who personifies everything that is great about America."--Robert McChesney With 160 entries from arrogance to zoos, Douglas Dowd puts the U.S. back in its cage. The ultimate primer and reference work on what has gone wrong in our country. Biographical sketches from Kissinger to Sacco and Vanzetti, combined with solid analysis of horrific deeds provides the reader with an education like no other. This is a must-have reference work that's as entertaining as it is profound. From racism to violence, from militarism to power, Dowd's entries provide an education by provocation. "The bitter truth is that although we have had every opportunity to become a truly wonderful society, we have failed to shed our past faults and are now evolving toward something the opposite of wonderful: The gap between our realities and our ideals, despite important changes now and again, widens to resemble the Grand Canyon."--from the preface A professor of economic history at Johns Hopkins University in Italy and also at the University of California, Douglas F. Dowd has written over 10 books critical of capitalism, including Capitalism and Its Economics: A Critical History, The Twisted Dream: Capitalist Development in the United States Since 1776, and Understanding Capitalism: Critical Analysis From Karl Marx to Amartya Sen.

Applying certain Marxist categories of analysis to the study of American history, the central thesis of this outstanding book is that the main peculiarity of American historical development was the almost direct transition from a colonial to an imperialist economy. Expertly dealing with such topics as: * the American Revolution and the Civil War against the background of the European bourgeois revolutions * the influence of the Western land tenure system on the process of capital accumulation * the passage from plantation slavery to sharecropping in the South and its legacy of racism * the transition to imperialism towards the end of the nineteenth century * the rise of the labour movement and the main American socialist organizations up to the end of the First World War. A valuable resource for postgraduate students and researchers of business studies and American studies, Gaido’s text will undoubtedly find a place on the bookshelves of many.

"Authorities cited in the text": pages 439-445.

This book, first published in 1992, is concerned with the United States as a developing country in the early twentieth century.