How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country ...

[RussK]

How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, From the Pilgrims to the Present, by Thomas J. DiLorenzo was recently featured on the Ludwig von Mises Institute's website through a review titled A Student's Guide to Economic History. I read this book sometime in 2005, and thought it did a good job at listing and describing, through American historical examples, the benefits of capitalism; it also tackles some common myths attributed to capitalism. I've heard, in one form or another, capitalism being advocated through similar examples before; however, this book provides an accessible collection to the various cases, and much of the details given in the book were new and beneficial to me. One of the examples given, which I had never before seen put in economic terms--or knew much about in general--comes as the first 'event' covered by the book in the chapter titled "How Capitalism Saved the Pilgrims." The book is an easy, short read, and recommended for those who want to learn about some of the concrete examples of the benefits capitalism has allowed throughout American history. For further details of the book, read the review linked to above.

Besides "How Capitalism Saved America," other concrete examples of capitalism in action, that I've read more recently, can be found in two articles written by Alex Epstein for The Objective Standard: "Vindicating Capitalism: The Real History of the Standard Oil Company," and "Energy at the Speed of Thought: The Original Alternative Energy Market."

Edited August 20, 2009 by RussK