Land of Promise: An Economic History from Michael Lind

In Land of Promise, bestselling author Michael Lind provides a sweeping and original work of economic history, recounting the epic story of America’s rise from a collection of weak economies to the world’s dominant economy and an industrial, financial, and military colossus. He traces how each wave of emerging technology, such as the steam engine, electricity, the internal combustion engine, computer technology not only transformed America but also led to misalignments between an innovative economy and anachronistic legal and political structures. It sometimes took upheavals such as the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Great Depression, and World War II to realign American society. As the United States struggles to emerge from the Great Recession, Land of Promise demonstrates that Americans have reinvented the American economy—and have the power to do so again.

ITIF is pleased to host Lind for a discussion of the remarkable people, innovations and tumult of our history and what it could tell us about the present and future.