Book Description

Envy of the World is a history of the rise and development of the American economy and Big Business over four centuries and how the individual and collective actions of Americans, native born and foreign, came to create the $12.6 trillion economy of today. Although the building American juggernaut was blessed above other nations with all manner of natural resources, the inventiveness and drive of the American people made the most of what Providence had bestowed. Steadily, then more swiftly, the foundation was laid for success. More intimate knowledge of economic reality and theory in the 20th century led ultimately to the world's greatest economy of today. At time of this writing in 2006, following a presidential election campaign characterized by harsh criticism of special moneyed interests and foreign outsourcing of labor, many Americans have taken a dim view of Big Business and the federal government's management of the economy. This book does not shrink from pointing out episodes of corporate greed and malfeasance as well as mistakes by Washington both in the recent and distant past. However, the impression is epidemic among the populace that the advances and conveniences of a modern society are the God-given right of Americans. In point of fact, the cornucopia of excellence that exists in food and household products, clothing and consumer durables, housing and motor vehicle transportation, health care and high tech industry, and other goods and services, would not be available to the majority of citizens but for the ambition, effort, and, yes, self-interest of entrepreneurs who founded, grew, and consolidated private enterprise companies. Further, the sometimes contradictoryefforts by government officials to balance the interests of corporations, societal groups, and individuals have created by-and-large a most beneficial atmosphere for economic endeavor. The book provides periodic quantitative summation of gross domestic product, population, employment, company results, and other statistics, particularly in later chapters. Because the author's philosophy is that a picture and a thousand words are better than either one alone, he has made extensive use of original charts and graphs, illustrations, industry genealogies, and maps. *** Timothy J. Botti holds a PhD in the history of American Foreign Policy and is a former Lecturer/Teaching Assistant at Ohio State University. Botti's expertise is in the history of world empires, American military and strategic studies, ancient Roman history, and the subject of his current work, the U.S. economy and Big Business. He takes the approach of applying broad knowledge to broad subjects, synthesizing information from across many areas. In 2005, Dr. Botti created a firm called CLP Research to provide value-added research products, ranging from reports on businesses and industries to political genealogies, over the Internet. His previous books include Ace in the Hole: Why the United States Did Not Use Nuclear Weapons in the Cold War (Greenwood Press 1996), and The Long Wait: The Forging of the Anglo-American Nuclear Alliance, 1945-1958 (Greenwood 1987).