Who Built That: Awe-Inspiring Stories of American Tinkerpreneurs

by Michelle Malkin

Overview

Firebrand conservative columnist, commentator, Internet entrepreneur, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Michelle Malkin tells the fascinating, little-known stories of the inventors who have contributed to American exceptionalism and technological progress.

In July 2012, President Obama infamously proclaimed: “If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Malkin wholeheartedly disagrees. Who Built That is a rousing tribute to the hidden American capitalists who pioneered everyday inventions. They’re the little big things we take for granted: bottle caps and glassware, tissue paper, flashlights, railroad signals, bridge cables, revolutionary plastics, and more.

Malkin takes readers on an eclectic journey of American capitalism, from the colonial period to the Industrial Age to the present, spotlighting awe-inspiring and little-known “tinkerpreneurs” who achieved their dreams of doing well by doing good. You’ll learn how famous patent holders Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain championed the nation’s unique system of intellectual property rights; how glass manufacturing mavericks Edward Libbey and Mike Owens defied naysayers to revolutionize food, beverage, and pharmaceutical packaging; how penniless Croatian immigrant Anthony Maglica started his $400 million Maglite flashlight business in a rented garage; and many more riveting stories that explain our country’s fertile climate for scientific advancement and entrepreneurship.

To understand who we are as people, we need to first understand what motivates America’s ordinary and extraordinary makers and risk-takers. Driven by her own experience as a second-generation beneficiary of the American Dream, Malkin skillfully and passionately rebuts collectivist orthodoxy to celebrate the engineers, mechanics, designers, artisans, and relentless tinkerers of all backgrounds who embody our nation’s spirit of self-made entrepreneurialism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476784946
Publisher:	Mercury Ink
Publication date:	05/19/2015
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Michelle Malkin is a mother, wife, blogger, conservative syndicated columnist, pundit, and #1 New York Times bestselling author. She started her newspaper journalism career at the Los Angeles Daily News in 1992, moved to The Seattle Times in 1995, and has been penning nationally syndicated newspaper columns for Creators Syndicate since 1999. She is the founder of Hot Air and Twitchy.com. She lives with her husband and two children in the Colorado Springs area.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Engineers of Prosperity

1 Maglite's Tony Maglica: Torchbearer of the American Dream 15

2 The Wizards of Cool: Air-Conditioning Innovators Willis Carrier and Irvine Lyle 35

3 Roebling: The Family That Built America's Most Famous Bridges 60

Part II The Miracle of the Mundane

4 I, Toilet Paper 103

5 Crowning Glory: How William Painter's Bottle Caps Became a $9 Billion Business 115

6 "Keep Looking": How Painter's Razor-Sharp Genius Inspired King Gillette 135

7 Seeing Dollars in the Dirt: The Wisdom of Charles E. Hires 143

Part III BFFs: Dynamic Duos of American Business

8 Death-Defying Mavericks of Glass: Edward Libbey and Michael Owens 155

9 "Perfect Partnership": Westinghouse, Tesla, and the Harnessing of Niagara Falls 186

Part IV Past, Present, Future

10 Smart Limbs: The Next Generation of American Tinkerpreneurs 219

Conclusion 233

Acknowledgments 245

Notes 249

Index 309

Editorial Reviews

When Barack Obama once said that American entrepreneurs don’t appreciate the help they get from government and society in general, Michelle Malkin took umbrage. Here, the conservative writer counters with fascinating stories of America’s hardworking inventors and business pioneers. She narrates with some indignation but comes across as more of a cheerleader than a defensive firebrand. Her clear speaking and appealing enthusiasm make this an easy-to-hear audio. The daughter of immigrants, she celebrates American business leaders from colonial times to the present and has a talent for making their stories engaging. This audiobook inspires appreciation as well as admiration by applauding the American laws that protect inventions and intellectual property, support scientific advancement, and allow entrepreneurs to reap the benefits of their hard work. T.W. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

JULY 2017 - AudioFile