Starting in colonial times, this book looks at some of the most ambitious merchants, industrialists, and financiers in American history as they master a new economic world of textiles, railroads, oil, and steel. With the 20th century come fresh opportunities in automobiles, movies, broadcasting, and retailing. By the end of that century, high tech has become the field of choice. The book profiles the major business personalities in all these eras, from the merchant princes of early New England to the robber barons of the Gilded Age to the software moguls of today. With such comprehensive details as photographs and architectural drawings of their impressive homes, the book includes John Hancock, Boston's 'limousine liberal'; George Eastman, the photo mogul happier at home baking pies; and more recent pioneers such as Jim Clark and Larry Ellison. This is a richly illustrated that looks at three centuries of innovators for whom 'the business of America' was business.