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When Captain Christopher Newport and his crew landed on the muddy banks of the James River in 1607, after four months at sea, they aimed to establish a new colony not for God, or the greater good of humanity-but for the sake of profit. The Pilgrims who settled in Cape Cod in 1620 as agents of Plymouth Company found evidence of divine election in the fortunes they accumulated from a lucrative system of town-founding in the New World. The innovative and often ruthless entrepreneurs who followed these colonists carved out the immense North American frontier wilderness from the Atlantic Ocean to the golden sands of the California coast, and they forged industrial and technological revolutions that shook the world.
New Seeds of Profit examines the role of business leaders, from George Washington to Donald Trump, in shaping the United States into a business nation unlike any other in world history. By tracing the influence of industry and commerce on American society through portraits of successful entrepreneurs, this book sheds light on the esteemed place Americans reserve for their wealthiest business leaders-and it measures the true cost of that adulation by demonstrating how enterprise driven solely by the bottom line imperils people and the environment.
In a story teeming with the heroes and villains of enterprise, New Seeds of Profit offers an innovative business model that provides meaningful work to employees and socially responsible returns to investors, while encouraging sustainable stewardship of the earth and advancing the common good.
List of contents
Chapter One. Titans, Tycoons, and Captains of Industry
Chapter Two. Rascals, Scoundrels, and Corporate Villains
Chapter Three. Madness and the Mercantile Mind
Chapter Four. Corporation as Supervillain
About the author
Mark S. Ferrara is an assistant professor of English at SUNY Oneonta, New York.
Summary
New Seeds of Profit highlights the shortcomings of the admiration Americans have historically shown toward entrepreneurs and business leaders, diagnoses the underlying causes of the dysfunctional condition of American capitalism, and recommends the current trend of greater economic inequality.
