Summary of Bhu Srinivasan's Americana

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Bhu Srinivasan's Americana in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a four-hundred-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things -- the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the twenty-first century. The result is a thrilling alternative history of modern America that reframes events, trends, and people we thought we knew through the prism of the value that, for better or for worse, this nation holds dearest: capitalism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Nov 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638158868

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Bhu Srinivasan's Americana

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The story of the Pilgrims, who left England to colonize America, demonstrates the lengths people will go to protect their religious beliefs.

#2

The story of the Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution is a myth. In reality, they left to start a new life and spread the word of God, but still had to negotiate with the English government to obtain a charter to do so.

#3

The church leaders in Leyden, Holland, needed to raise money to fund the voyage. They turned to Thomas Weston, a representative of the Merchant Adventurers of London, to finance the trip.

#4

The concept of limited liability, which was not a natural phenomenon in free markets, allowed investors to assume risks while limiting the severity of any potential losses. This promoted the investment of private capital in risky overseas ventures.

#5

The first wave of Dutch immigrants to North America were sent to Virginia, where they suffered terribly. They were followed by a second wave, and a third.

#6

The Merchant Adventurers were a group of businessmen who helped fund the Pilgrims’ trip to America.

#7

The Mayflower set sail from Southampton on August 5, 1620, with 102 passengers. It was an attempt by a group of investors to colonize the New World.

#8

The Mayflower's first winter in the New World was extremely difficult, with half the passengers dying. It was a difficult lesson for the Pilgrims to learn, and they vowed to never let such a thing happen again.

#9

The first Native American the Pilgrims met was named Samoset, and he was able to communicate with them via broken English. He provided them with valuable information about the land they were settling, and also helped them procure beaver skins, which were in high demand in Europe.

#10

The colonists found themselves with many problems, not least of which was how to farm without communal land. They decided that families would be given private plots to grow their own food, with the excess going to the community.

#11

The Pilgrims were unable to sell their land in Plymouth, so they borrowed money from trading partners and factors at interest rates exceeding 50 percent.

#12

The Virginia Company, which was set up to colonize North America, had to shut down in 1622 after the Jamestown settlement was sacked and hundreds of English colonists were killed. Tobacco had yet to make its way to England.

#13

Tobacco was an extremely profitable crop in the New World, but it also brought death and destruction to its grower. The economic model set by John Rolfe in Virginia would be replicated throughout the southern half of English America.

#14

The first Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619. While some were servants indentured to English owners, many more were brought as slaves to work on plantations.

#15

The supply side of the equation was also favorable to servitude. With the death of King James I in 1625, the political situation in England became unstable, as various groups sought to gain power. There was a shortage of servants, so people were willing to indenture themselves for long periods of time in exchange for food, clothing, and shelter.

#16

Slavery in the South became more profitable as the demand for workers increased. By 1700, the number of slaves in Virginia had grown to 16,000 people, or about a fourth of the population.

#17

The English colonies in America grew exponentially in size and population due to the lack of religious tolerance in New England, and the aristocrats’ desire to make money off of their lands.

#18

The North was different than the South in that it fostered towns and villages, not plantations.

#19

Tobacco was the main export product of colonial Virginia in the 1700s. Because of this, many of