Bibliograph

A brief history of entrepreneurship, the pioneers, profiteers, and racketeers who shaped our world, Joe Carlen

Type

Label

A brief history of entrepreneurship, the pioneers, profiteers, and racketeers who shaped our world, Joe Carlen

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

A brief history of entrepreneurship

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

947817141

Responsibility statement

Joe Carlen

Series statement

Columbia Business School Publishing

Sub title

the pioneers, profiteers, and racketeers who shaped our world

Summary

"A Brief History of Entrepreneurship charts how the pursuit of profit by private individuals has been a prime mover in revolutionising civilisation. Entrepreneurs often butt up against processes, technologies, social conventions, and even laws. So they circumvent, innovate, and violate to obtain what they want. This creative destruction has brought about overland and overseas trade, colonisation, and a host of revolutionary technologies-from caffeinated beverages to the personal computer-that have transformed society. Consulting rich archival sources, including some that have never before been translated, Carlen maps the course of human history through nine episodes when entrepreneurship reshaped our world. Highlighting the most colourful characters of each era, he discusses Mesopotamian merchants' creation of the urban market economy; Phoenician merchant-sailors intercontinental trade, which came to connect Africa, Asia, and Europe; Chinese tea traders' invention of paper money; the colonisation of the Americas; and the current "flattening" of the world's economic playing field. Yet the pursuit of profit hasn't always moved us forward. From slavery to organised crime, Carlen explores how entrepreneurship can sometimes work at the expense of others. He also discusses the new entrepreneurs who, through the nascent space tourism industry, are leading humanity to a multiplanetary future. By exploring all sides of this legacy, Carlen brings much-needed detail to the role of entrepreneurship in revolutionising civilisation."--Book jacket

Table Of Contents

Introduction -- "One shekel of your private silver" -- The pirates of Phoenicia -- The reluctant Romans -- An enterprising faith -- Flying money and capitalist monks -- Western Europe and a 'new world' of profit -- Captains of the revolution -- The land of [entrepreneurial] opportunity -- Flattening the world and colonizing space -- Conclusion

Classification