American Colossus Book Essay
Nicholas Kissamis
The United States since 1877
HIST 1302-24045
October 23, 2012
H. W. Brands. American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900. New York: Anchor Books, 2010. Paper $17.95. ISBN: 978-0-307-368677-9..
H. W. Brands attended Stanford University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history; he then went on to earn at masters and doctorate in history at the University of Texas in Austin. In addition to American Colossus, Brands has also written other books about history and biography like the Man Who Saved the Union and American Dreams. He has also edited books such as The Selected Letters of Theodore Roosevelt and The Foreign Policies of Lyndon Johnson. Brands has a lot of knowledge in history telling by all the books that he has written and edited. Based on this information American Colossus promises to be a very detailed in to depth about the Triumph of Capitalism.
American Colossus is a book focusing on the Triumph of Capitalism from 1865 to 1900. The main idea that Brands is trying to communicate to readers is “during the decades after the civil war, Morgan and his fellow capitalists effected a stunning transformation in American life. They turned a society rooted in the soil into one based in cities. They lifted the standard of living of ordinary people to a plane associated, not long before in America and for decades after elsewhere, with aristocracy. They drew legions of souls from foreign countries to American shores. They established the basis for the projection of American economic and military power to the farthest corners of the planet.”
Throughout American Colossus, Brands makes extensive use of both primary sources and secondary works. Among the primary sources that Brands uses extensively are Andrew Carnegie clerked on the railroad, John D. Rockefeller focused on oil, and J.P. Morgan as a trader. Secondary
The United States since 1877
HIST 1302-24045
October 23, 2012
H. W. Brands. American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900. New York: Anchor Books, 2010. Paper $17.95. ISBN: 978-0-307-368677-9..
H. W. Brands attended Stanford University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history; he then went on to earn at masters and doctorate in history at the University of Texas in Austin. In addition to American Colossus, Brands has also written other books about history and biography like the Man Who Saved the Union and American Dreams. He has also edited books such as The Selected Letters of Theodore Roosevelt and The Foreign Policies of Lyndon Johnson. Brands has a lot of knowledge in history telling by all the books that he has written and edited. Based on this information American Colossus promises to be a very detailed in to depth about the Triumph of Capitalism.
American Colossus is a book focusing on the Triumph of Capitalism from 1865 to 1900. The main idea that Brands is trying to communicate to readers is “during the decades after the civil war, Morgan and his fellow capitalists effected a stunning transformation in American life. They turned a society rooted in the soil into one based in cities. They lifted the standard of living of ordinary people to a plane associated, not long before in America and for decades after elsewhere, with aristocracy. They drew legions of souls from foreign countries to American shores. They established the basis for the projection of American economic and military power to the farthest corners of the planet.”
Throughout American Colossus, Brands makes extensive use of both primary sources and secondary works. Among the primary sources that Brands uses extensively are Andrew Carnegie clerked on the railroad, John D. Rockefeller focused on oil, and J.P. Morgan as a trader. Secondary