The text examines the emergence of self-starters in relation to the changing consumer markets of the 20th century. It locates entrepreneurs within the changing rhetoric of personal success - which shifted its emphasis from religious "character" to psychological "personality" to celebrity "image".
The author analyzes the autobiographical expressions of famous entrepreneurs, from Andrew Carnegie to Ross Perot, alongside more marginal ones, such as Oprah Winfrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to examine how mainstream society was and is shaped by the cultures of subordinate groups. He looks at the link between self-making and nation-building and reveals the origins of a persistent myth of the "American dream". 200 pp.
