"The upper class in America was one into which others might move when they had acquired the requisite wealth. And so long as wealth accumulation was open to all, the class structure would be correspondingly flexible."
Chapter I, page 4

"The Puritans prohibited bear-baiting not because of torture to the bear, but because of the pleasure it afforded the spectators."
Chapter I, page 9

"The economic history of the United States is the history of the rise and development of the capitalistic system."
Chapter II, page 41

"'You and I, my dear friend have been sent into life at a time when the greatest lawgivers of antiquity would have wished to live. How few of the human race have ever enjoyed an opportunity of making an election of government for themselves or their children!'"
John Adams to Richard Lee, 1776, Chapter III, page 88

"Railroad iron is a magician's rod in its...