Americana

A 400-Year History of American Capitalism

By: Bhu Srinivasan

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Bhu Srinivasan

Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century. The result is a thrilling alternative history of modern America that reframes events, trends, and people we thought we knew through the prism of the value that, for better or for worse, this nation holds dearest: capitalism.

In a winning, accessible style, Bhu Srinivasan boldly takes on four centuries of American enterprise, revealing the unexpected connections that link them. We learn how Andrew Carnegie's early job as a telegraph messenger boy paved the way for his leadership of the steel empire that would make him one of the nation's richest men; how the gunmaker Remington reinvented itself in the postwar years to sell typewriters; how the inner workings of the Mafia mirrored the trend of consolidation and regulation in more traditional business; and how a 1950s infrastructure bill triggered a series of events that produced one of America's most enduring brands: KFC. Reliving the heady early days of Silicon Valley, we are reminded that the start-up is an idea as old as America itself.

Entertaining, eye-opening, and sweeping in its reach, Americana is an exhilarating new work of narrative history.

©2017 Bhu Srinivasan (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A delightful tour through the businesses and industries that turned America into the biggest economy in the world. Not only is the book written in a light and informative style, it is cleverly constructed.... There is plenty of surprising detail.... An excellent book.” (The Economist)

“[Srinivasan] is particularly insightful on cycles of technological revolution, as with Andrew Carnegie’s innovations as a steel baron and the rise of the automobile industry.... Spryly and with just the right amount of circumstantial detail, Srinivasan places all this against the context of his own history in America.... A smart, accessible contribution to the nation’s economic history.” (Kirkus)

“The historical parallels his work provokes are striking and illustrative, and modern innovators would benefit from looking more closely at how the past may inform their future.” (Quartz)

One of my favorite books of the year!

Americana was one of my favorite books of the year! The author does a masterful job of hurtling the reader through time through the lens of capitalism... by connecting the Nation's history of needs, wants, drives, innovations, successes and failures. The book provides a perspective that was captivating and thought provoking and it is definitely on my MUST READ list.

Logical history

Incredible economic developments, one after the other, focused within the USA and beginning in 19th Century.

A good foundational and general history, with deeper dives into specific occurrences within each major commercial activity, whether only nation altering or world changing

excellent, especially early chapters

we'll well read story of America as seen from an economic perspective. the early chapters enlightened and change perception of the early history of the United States. very interesting. later chapters were good but not as enlightening

This needs to be taught with American history

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It helped to fill in a lot of the gaps about financing and motivation throughout American history that's taught in school. A must read for the historian or the businessman.

Phenomenal read!!! And it’s history!

This is my favorite book I have listened to! Learned so much about America, business, politics, racial challenges in America, and where we all started as a country. Such a good read I have recommended to many or there and they enjoy it too!!

U.S. Economic History

A great book on U.S. economic history. It is information dense which may force the reader to listen to it at a normal pace. However, the information is valuable and I will definitely revisit specific chapters in the book in the future. Downside - Certain sections of the book may read like a textbook.

Highly recommend

Love listening to books like this because if I were reading it I would end up skimming but I learned do much! Wish he could do an addendum for the last 5 years!

Well written. Surprisingly thoughtful/appropriately critical

When I picked up the book, I expected it to be blindly supportive of capitalism as an economic system. Well, it does extort its virtues. It also shows where it falls short and shortcomings have been addressed by degree through the years. as with any “system” or “ism/ology”, it requires continuous efforts to improve.

Wow.

Very insightful way to view history and the impact each industry had on society. Highly recommend.

An engaging and informative read

The book is an engaging introduction to the economic history of the United States of America. the reliance on stories of innovators and commodities provides a clear structure, though it means it can be difficult to find where the author addresses certain capitalist features like banking.

The performance is good, though I would've preferred for the author himself to narrate the entire book instead of just the preface. The narrator's deep voice is impressive, but requires some attention to stay focused on.