The Great Boom 1950-2000

How a Generation of Americans Created the World's Most Prosperous Society

Business & Finance, Economics, Economic History, Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science
Cover of the book The Great Boom 1950-2000 by Robert Sobel, St. Martin's Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert Sobel ISBN: 9781250112910
Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication: February 9, 2016
Imprint: St. Martin's Griffin Language: English
Author: Robert Sobel
ISBN: 9781250112910
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication: February 9, 2016
Imprint: St. Martin's Griffin
Language: English

In The Great Boom, historian Robert Sobel tells the fascinating story of the last 50 years when American entrepreneurs, visionaries, and ordinary citizens transformed our depression and war-exhausted society into today's economic powerhouse.

As America's G.I.s returned home from World War II, many of the nation's best minds predicted a new depression—yet exactly the opposite occurred. Jobs were plentiful in retooled factories swamped with orders from pent-up demand. Tens of thousands of families moved out of cities into affordable suburban homes built by William Levitt and his imitators. They bought cars, televisions, and air conditioners by the millions. And they took to the nation's roads and new interstate highways—the largest public works project in world history—where Kemmons Wilson of Holiday Inns, Ray Kroc of McDonalds, and other start-up entrepreneurs soon catered to a mobile populace with food and lodgings for leisure time vacationers.

Americans and their families began to channel savings into new opportunities. Credit cards democratized purchasing power, while early mutual funds found growing numbers of investors to fuel the first postwar bull market in the go-go '60s. At the same time the continuing boom enriched the fabric of social and cultural life. A college education became a must on the highway to upward mobility; high-tech industries arose with astonishing new ways of conducting business electronically; and an unprecedented 49 million families had become investors when the 1981-2000 stock market boom reached 10,000 on the Dow.

The Great Boom is the first major book to portray the great wave of homegrown entrepreneurs as post-war heroes in the complete remaking and revitalizing of America. All that, plus the creation of unprecedented wealth—or themselves, for the nation, for tens of millions of citizens—all in five short drama-filled decades.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In The Great Boom, historian Robert Sobel tells the fascinating story of the last 50 years when American entrepreneurs, visionaries, and ordinary citizens transformed our depression and war-exhausted society into today's economic powerhouse.

As America's G.I.s returned home from World War II, many of the nation's best minds predicted a new depression—yet exactly the opposite occurred. Jobs were plentiful in retooled factories swamped with orders from pent-up demand. Tens of thousands of families moved out of cities into affordable suburban homes built by William Levitt and his imitators. They bought cars, televisions, and air conditioners by the millions. And they took to the nation's roads and new interstate highways—the largest public works project in world history—where Kemmons Wilson of Holiday Inns, Ray Kroc of McDonalds, and other start-up entrepreneurs soon catered to a mobile populace with food and lodgings for leisure time vacationers.

Americans and their families began to channel savings into new opportunities. Credit cards democratized purchasing power, while early mutual funds found growing numbers of investors to fuel the first postwar bull market in the go-go '60s. At the same time the continuing boom enriched the fabric of social and cultural life. A college education became a must on the highway to upward mobility; high-tech industries arose with astonishing new ways of conducting business electronically; and an unprecedented 49 million families had become investors when the 1981-2000 stock market boom reached 10,000 on the Dow.

The Great Boom is the first major book to portray the great wave of homegrown entrepreneurs as post-war heroes in the complete remaking and revitalizing of America. All that, plus the creation of unprecedented wealth—or themselves, for the nation, for tens of millions of citizens—all in five short drama-filled decades.

More books from St. Martin's Press

Cover of the book Salma Hayek by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book Sixth Grave on the Edge by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book The Dream Comes True by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book The Cat Sitter's Cradle by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book Sky in the Deep by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book Even by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book The Riddle of Alabaster Royal by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book Let Me In by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book And Mistress Makes Three by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book The Little Book of Bob by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book Nothing Feels Good by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book Scandalous Weddings by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book Until There Was You by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl by Robert Sobel
Cover of the book The Armand Gamache Series, Books 1-12 by Robert Sobel
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy