The Puritan Gift: Reclaiming the American Dream Amidst Global Financial Chaos - Hardcover

Hopper, Kenneth; Hopper, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1850434190 ISBN 13: 9781850434191

Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 2007

Synopsis

Financial Times Top Ten Business Book of 2007! The Puritan Gift traces the origins and the characteristics of American managerial culture which, in the course of three centuries, would turn a group of small colonies into the greatest economic and political power on earth. It was the Protestant ethic whose characteristics--thrift, a respect for enquiry, individualism tempered by a need to cooperate, success as a measure of divine approval--helped to create the conditions which led to America's managerial and corporate success. Thus, the authors contend, the drive, energy and acceptance of innovation, competition, growth and social mobility, all have their origins in the discipline and ethos of America's first wave of European immigrants: the Puritans. And, the authors warn, as Americans distance themselves from core values which produced their nineteenth and twentieth century business and economic successes, they endanger the basis for their prosperity and security.

About this title

About the Author:

Kenneth Hopper has been active for 50 years as a writer on industrial affairs and a consultant in both the U.S. and Europe. William Hopper has spent his career in investment banking in New York and London.

Review:

""Kenneth Hopper is certainly one of the most eloquent, and credible voices being raised on this issue.""--Robert Hayes, Harvard University
 ""A goldmine of information.""--Myron Tribus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stephen Evans, as presenter of BBC Business Daily, has selected this book as a 'must read of the year' for 2007.
""A very thought-provoking and readable book.""--Linda Hesselman, Management Studies Centre, University College, London ""A stunning triumph . . . An important new contribution to the academic study of management."" --Professor Peter Kawalek, Manchester Business School
 ""The best thing about The Puritan Gift is that it is a real book, full of fascinating insights, intellectual rigour and challenging, authoritative arguments that remind us that there is nothing new about the responsibilities of management."" - Richard Donkin, Financial Times

‘In The Puritan Gift, published last year, the septuagenarian Scottish brothers William and Kenneth Hopper, respectively a banker and an engineer-turned-industrial consultant, argued that for 200 years the puritan foundations of America kept its businesses intact, emphasising craft, financial responsibility and the sublimation of  private interest to the group.’  - Andrew Billen, TIMES, 9th March 2009

About this edition

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1850434190
• ISBN 13: 9781850434191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352