Book Cover
Book
Author Sandage, Scott A.

Title Born losers : a history of failure in America / Scott A. Sandage
Published Cambridge, Ma : Harvard University Press, [2005]
©2005

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  303.372 San/Bla  AVAILABLE
Description x, 362 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Contents Prologue: Lives of quiet desperation -- Going bust in the age of go-ahead -- A reason in the man -- We are all speculators -- Central Intelligence Agency, since 1841 -- The big red book of third-rate men -- Misinformation and its discontents -- The war for ambition -- Big business and little men -- Epilogue: Attention must be paid
Summary "From colonial days to the Columbine tragedy, Scott A. Sandage explores how failure evolved from a business loss into a personality deficit, from a career setback to a gauge of our self-worth." "Sandage has stories to tell - not of celebrities who flopped before making it big, but of ordinary people who bit the dust. From hundreds of private diaries, family letters, and business records, he reconstructs the dramas of real-life Willy Lomans. Early credit reports reveal how experts tried to predict who would succeed and who would not. Hundreds of "begging letters" sought loans, jobs, or advice from men like John D. Rockefeller, P. T. Barnum, and Mark Twain."--BOOK JACKET
Notes "Born losers began as as a 1995 doctoral dissertation at Rutgers University"--P
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Social values -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Losers -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Failure (Psychology) -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Capitalism -- Social aspects -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Identity (Psychology) -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Stigma (Social psychology)
Social status -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
LC no. 2004051134
ISBN 067401510X alkaline paper
Other Titles History of failure in America