99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life

An enlightening and entertaining interrogation of the myth of American self-reliance and the idea of hard work as destiny

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” This phrase, arguably Thomas Edison’s most famous quote, has been drilled into the minds of generations of Americans. A fairly straightforward iteration of the idea that innovation, discovery, and ingenuity are the result of drive and grit above all, it has also come to represent much darker myths: ...