American Gift

Book Four of the American series is the counterweight. Henry Goodstone traces the arrivals who built American strength across power, wealth and knowledge, from Kariko and Afeyan to Grove, Brin, Ulukaya, Huang and Nooyi, set against the receipts of what they contributed versus what they cost. Against the transactional turn of the earlier books, this is the case that the country still draws the people who make things and work harder than those born on third base. The gift is the evidence that America has not fully burned out what once made it a beacon.