"It seemed like no force in the world could slow J.P. Morgan's drive to power. In the summer of 1901, the financier was assembling his next mega-deal: Northern Securities, an enterprise that would affirm his dominance in America's most important industry: the railroads. Then, a bullet from an anarchist's gun put an end to the business-friendly presidency of William McKinley. A new chief executive bounded into office: Theodore Roosevelt. He was convinced...

This book provides the reader with a deeper understanding of day-to-day life in America during the last two decades of the 19th century. It will uncover what life was like for ordinary Americans as they lived through an industrialized revolution, labor strikes, an influx of millions of immigrants, and the expansion of cities and the railroad.

Examines the economic growth of the United States since the Civil War, arguing that the rate of growth between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated and that a number of issues are further stagnating the already slow rate of productivity growth.