From Booklist
More than 280 individuals from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries who helped change the American economy are profiled here. The author tried to select "people from all categories of American life," including those who made significant contributions yet were never famous as well as superstars. Some well-known names are here: Wally Amos, Dale Carnegie, Conrad Hilton. But how many people recognize Henry Morrison Flagler, who was instrumental in the development of Florida, or Ida Rosenthal, cofounder of the Maidenform Brassiere Company? Though a number founded or led flourishing business enterprises, others, such as George Washington Carver, Philo Farnsworth ("the father of television"), and Nikola Tesla, inventor of the alternating-current electric motor, were failures on the business side.
Each entry provides birth date (and death date where applicable), followed by a page or two on the person's life and innovations, and concludes with a brief further reading list. A general bibliography, subject indexes that arrange entries by invention or business type and by year of birth, and a general index complete the volume.
This volume is worthy of inclusion in reference collections of public, academic, and high-school libraries. Its content is wide-ranging and its entries provide interesting reading. RBB
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