American Enterprise: A History of Business in America

by Andy Serwer

American Enterprise is a dramatic exploration of how the United States transformed from a small dependent nation into one of the world's most vibrant and trend-setting economies. This companion book to the National Museum of American History's exhibition of the same name argues that the American experience has been shaped by economic and commercial philosophies. Founding ideals of capitalism and democracy fostered national values of competition and innovation. These values in turn became the building blocks of American business. The ongoing transformation of the marketplace has provided opportunities for many, benefits for some, and hardships for others.

This powerful book explores the perspectives of both producers and consumers and illustrates the complex interplay between these two groups throughout history. It does so through four major eras: Merchant (1770s - 1850s), Corporate (1860s - 1930s), Consumer (1940s - 1970s), and Global (1980s - 2010s). The goods, machinery, advertisements, and business leaders of each era are brought to life with objects from the Smithsonian's unparalleled collections and explanations by the exhibition's curators. Each era concludes with two essays by famous and influential business leaders who play off the history to pose provocative questions about the state of contemporary American business and society. American Enterprise provides an understanding of the nation's business heritage and corresponding social effects that is fundamental to the lives of the American people, the history of the United States, and the nation's role in global affairs.

Genres: Business, History

207 pages, Paperback

First published April 21, 2015

Reviews

[Tuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a pretty fantastic hardcover book with great color pictures of various photos from the Smithsonian Collection detailing the evolution of American business. It started with the start of business from the splitting of England ties to America with the honor handshake type based business practices of the early American time (for example home sewed clothing, slave trading, and farming) to eventually the spreading of American people to the western reaches of the country through Louisiana Purchases, Spain and Florida, deals with the ones that held Texas and the West Coast and more. Although we learned some of it in school it was fascinating to see the book give some focus to some of the indigenous peoples who were getting involved with trading and selling to Americans (though sad about the fate of their land). The book profiles several key figures in each of the time periods, and most gratefully a focus of minorities and even female business. After the westward spread it became more interesting as the book took time to show how advertising was done in this time to current as well as the growth of credit to the development of plastic cards and more. Transportation businesses was shown too. I do wish they did go more into the virtual business that are in our current time as that is the only weakness of the book. The final segment on the 21st century business and more felt kind of short due to really only focusing on how services have developed for lending money (the Great Recession). Though I did enjoy how over the course of the book we could see how the government had to play around with little business control, to too much control, to decreased control. So that balance was an good narrative to follow.

All in all it was a fast paced fascinating read on American business. The scholarly short essays included from people who held positions in some of the biggest companies (Ford, "Can Business Serve Society) to some government regulators (Head of the FDIC a few years ago, "Business and Consumers: What Makes For A Great Relationship?") were also entertaining. Most memorable was Sally Greenberg (Executive Director of the National Consumers League), "Who's Minding Out Business?" going into how consumer protection has always been needed and must be needed due to continuing issues. One may remember the Consumer Reports reporting on leaky radiation from microwaves or the SUV's prone to rollover issues.

[brightredglow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting. Detailed. Lots of pictures. My kind of history book.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book looked like a nice read, so I picked it up at the Library. Unfortunately, it was disjointed and a lousy read.