New World, Inc. : The Making of America by England's Merchant Adventurers

Three generations of English merchant adventurers-not the Pilgrims, as we have so long believed-were the earliest founders of America. Profit-not piety-was their primary motive.

Some seventy years before the Mayflower sailed, a small group of English merchants formed "The Mysterie, Company, and Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places Unknown," the world's first joint-stock company. Back then, in the mid-sixteenth century, England was a small and relatively insignificant kingdom on the periphery of Europe, and it had begun to face a daunting array of social, commercial, and political problems. Struggling with a single export-woolen cloth-the merchants were forced to seek new markets and trading partners, especially as political discord followed the straitened circumstances in which so many English people found themselves.

At first they headed east, and dreamed of Cathay-China, with its silks and exotic luxuries. Eventually, they turned west, and so began a new chapter in world history. The work of reaching the New World required the very latest in navigational science as well as an extraordinary appetite for risk. As this absorbing account shows, innovation and risk-taking were at the heart of the settlement of America, as was the profit motive. Trade and business drove English interest in America, and determined what happened once their ships reached the New World.

The result of extensive archival work and a bold interpretation of the historical record, New World, Inc. draws a portrait of life in London, on the Atlantic, and across the New World that offers a fresh analysis of the founding of American history. In the tradition of the best works of history that make us reconsider the past and better understand the present, Butman and Targett examine the enterprising spirit that inspired European settlement of America and established a national culture of entrepreneurship and innovation that continues to this day.

John Butman is an author, editor, and collaborative writer. His writing has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, the Nation, and other publications and his work has been featured in the New York Times, the Economist, and media venues around the world. His books include Trading Up: The New American Luxury, a BusinessWeek bestseller, and Breaking Out: How to Build Influence in a World of Competing Ideas. John divides his time between Portland and Bailey Island, Maine, not far from one of the earliest English settlement sites in America.

Dr. Simon Targett is a writer, historian and corporate communications advisor. He holds a PhD in history from Cambridge and has written articles on British history for various publications. An award-winning journalist, he has served as a correspondent and senior editor on the Financial Times and as global editor-in-chief of The Boston Consulting Group. He lives in London with his wife and two children.