‘This is essential reading for anybody interested in global history.’  —Professor Ugo Panizza, The Graduate Institute of Geneva, Switzerland This illuminating book offers a compact survey and new interpretation of trends and policies in the US economy from the end of the nineteenth century to the initial period of the Trump administration. Valli maps three stages in this period of US economic history: first, the economic and demographic consequences of the frontier; second, the Fordist model of growth; and third, the attempt to build an economic empire through economic and financial globalization, military and political power and rapid technological progress. Examining pivotal moments from the Wall Street Crash and the World Wars to the recent Great Recession, Obamacare and Trump's electoral promises and first controversial decisions, this book is essential reading for all those interested in American economic power and its future.