Kevin Baker is a novelist, historian, and journalist whose books include Dreamland and the New York Times bestseller Paradise Alley. He authored America: The Story of Us, the companion volume to the groundbreaking A&E television show of the same name, and was the chief historical researcher on The American Century by Harold Evans. Baker is a contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Harper's Magazine, GQ, Newsweek, Politico, the Huffington Post, and other leading publications, and has appeared as a television commentator on the History channel, CNN, and The Colbert Report. Baker lives in New York with his wife, Ellen, and their cat, Maisie.
"Kevin Baker, inspired master of the historical novel, celebrates
America's moxie in this kaleidoscopic canon of invention and
innovation. By unpacking the provenance of eclectic novelties, from
the safety pin to the supermarket and the subway, Baker identifies
the visionaries and values that defined the American dream."
--Sam Roberts, The New York Times "Among the many rewards of
America the Ingenious, Kevin Baker's survey of Yankee know-how, is
stumbling on its buried nuggets. . . . Readers will unearth one or
two such treasures on nearly every page as Baker examines a wide
range of the achievements that have made, and still make, America
great again--and again."
--The Wall Street Journal "Historian Kevin Baker reminds us of the
innovation and tenacity that made our nation great in America the
Ingenious. . . .The book reveals little-known anecdotes and quirky
stories of the eccentric and often egotistical personalities behind
the inventions. Leo Fender, known for the electric guitar, couldn't
play a note of music. The creator of the safety pin, prolific
inventor Walter Hunt, sold his patent to cover a $15 gambling debt.
. . . Baker includes nonphysical innovations such as jazz and the
blues along with other pieces of Americana: Levi Strauss' jeans,
athletic shoes, amusement parks and lavish movie palaces."
--The Los Angeles Times "Just as you can't eat only one potato
chip, it would be impossible to stop with one selection from
America the Ingenious. . . . Thanks to Baker's efficient and witty
commentary, the learning goes down easily and leaves the reader
wanting more. . . . He casts a wide net, somehow managing to work
in such disparate subjects as the safety pin and the Tennessee
Valley authority."
--BookPage "From past to present to future, discover the history of
what Americans have made and what is on our horizon. . . . History
buffs and engineers will find America the Ingenious hard to put
down."
--Kirkus Reviews "Kevin Baker has the storytelling ability of a
novelist (which he is) and the historical chops of a scholar (which
he also is). America the Ingenious is, itself, ingenious--both
endlessly entertaining and thoroughly edifying."
--Daniel Okrent, New York Times bestselling author of Last Call:
The Rise and Fall of Prohibition "From the electric guitar to the
farm combine, the safety pin to the Conestoga wagon, from Pampers
to blue jeans and the telegraph: Kevin Baker's ingenious, eclectic,
and breathtaking chronicle of American invention reminds us of the
daring, the love for experimentation, and the resilient optimism
that is America at its very best--a land of freedom, imagination,
diversity, and grand-hearted authors like Kevin Baker."
--Brenda Wineapple, award-winning author of Ecstatic Nation:
Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877 "From Kevin Baker's
typewriter emerges a past that is no longer about places and dates
but a bunch of often hilarious misfits stumbling through the most
uncanny events and into fantastic stories that readers will be
forgiven for not immediately recognizing, through their laughter
and tears, as profound American history."
--Jack Hitt, author of Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American
Character
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