These essays give an account of why and how the United States grew rich in the nineteenth century.

Acknowledgments; Dedication; Preface; A note on notes; Part I. America And Europe: A History: 1. American civilisation: the impulse from Europe; Part II. The South In Slavery And In Freedom: 2. The slave plantation in American agriculture; 3. Slavery and southern economic development: an hypothesis and some evidence; 4. Labour productivity in cotton farming: a problem of research; 5. The south in the national economy, 1865¿1970; 6. Capitalism: southern style; Part III. Capitalist Dynamics Of The Rural North: 7. Breakthrough to the midwest; 8. Migration and a political culture; 9. The technological bases of a productive agriculture; 10. The true history of the northern farmer; Part IV. The North: Dynamics Of An Industrial Culture: 11. New England: the Puritan progenitor; 12. The industrial civilisation of the midwest Epilogue: Denouement and decline; Part V. American Values In A Capitalist World: 13. Political controls on a national economy; 14. Nationhood in a Common Market; 15. European industrialisation in an American mirror.