New World, Inc.: The Story of the British Empire's Most Successful Start-Up

Description

In the mid-sixteenth century, England was a small and relatively insignificant kingdom on the periphery of Europe, and it had begun to face a daunting array of social, commercial and political problems. Struggling with a single export - woollen cloth - a group of merchants formed arguably the world's first joint-stock company and set out to seek new markets and trading partners. It was a venture that relied on the very latest scientific innovations and required an extraordinary appetite for risk. At first they headed east, and dreamed of Cathay, with its silks and exotic luxuries. Eventually, they turned west, and so began a new chapter in history. Based on archival research and a bold interpretation of the historical record, New World, Inc. draws a portrait of life in London, on the Atlantic and across the New World, and reveals how profit-hungry business people transformed England into a world power.

John Butman is an author, editor and writer. His work has been featured the Harvard Business Review, Nation, New York Times and The Economist. His books include Trading Up and Breaking Out. John divides his time between Portland and Bailer Island, Maine. Dr Simon Targett is a writer, historian and media consultant. He holds a PhD in history from Cambridge and has written articles on British history for various publications. An award-winning journalist, he has served as a correspondent and senior editor on the Financial Times and as global editor-in-chief of The Boston Consulting Group. He lives in London.

Deeply researched and well-written * Financial Times * Brilliantly researched and vividly told * Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Lords of Finance * Fascinating... Powerful and convincing -- Jerry Brotton * BBC History Magazine * A lively and illuminating revisionist history. * Kirkus Reviews * Part business history, part swashbuckling adventurer's tale... A fascinating read. * Larrie D. Ferreiro, author of Brothers At Arms * New World, Inc. paints a fascinating portrait of personal daring and bold risk taking, of deceit and court intrigue, and of greed and unexpected success. It is a captivating read. * Antoine van Agtmael, author of The Smartest Places on Earth * An intelligent, thorough, and detailed examination of the financial stories powering the earliest voyages to America. Skillfully told, this compelling book elevates the overlooked economic motivations behind the first American settlements to their proper place in history. * Bhu Srinivasan, Author of Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism * Butman and Targett draw from a wealth of archival resources to argue convincingly that the commercial motive was key to English expansion into the New World... [An] engrossing history of adventure and innovation * Library Journal (starred review) * Extraordinary... eye-opening and thoroughly enjoyable * Booklist * Brisk and fascinating * Foreign Affairs * New World, Inc. is fluently and elegantly written, and the reader is drawn from page to page, onwards through this fascinating story. In many ways it reads at times like a novel, but this is a serious piece of historical writing. Human interest and drama sit at the heart of this story, but it is also one of science, innovation, navigational daring, bravery, chance, and resilience. It is a story as exciting as it is revealing. -- Mark Fox * Reaction * This meticulously researched, well-written, and beautifully designed book tells the fascinating and largely untold story of the earliest days of globalization, of innovation and entrepreneurial risk-taking, and of the creation of some of the earliest venture-financed companies in the world. -- Glenn Leibowitz * Write with Impact * Butman and Targett are fluent storytellers with an eye for detail * Publishers' Weekly * Immensely detailed * Investments & Pensions Europe * Part business history, part swashbuckling adventurer's tale... A fascinating read -- Larrie D. Ferreiro, author of Brothers At Arms