The American Myth of Success

"A rich and rewarding book, one that has stood up well under the test of time, and one that still provides readers with significant insights."--David Herbert Donald, author of Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe
"Weiss's incisive story of the success myth from its Puritan roots to the twentieth century is fascinating, provocative, and a delight to read."--Regina Markell Morantz-Sanchez, author of Sympathy and Science: Women Physicians in American Medicine
"The American Myth of Success helped revolutionize my understanding of what Marcus Garvey was saying. It offers what is still the finest, most nuanced reading of the role of the success ethic in American popular thought and culture."--Robert A. Hill, editor of The Marcus Garvey Papers
"An exceptionally perceptive history of the cult of striving and success in American culture written with great clarity, and with a keen sense of the social and intellectual currents of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries."--Joseph Boskin, author of Sambo: The Rise and Demise of an American Jester
"An elegant and deep exploration of secular and religious success literature. It is the best treatment of this theme that I have seen."--Frederic Cople Jaher, author of The Urban Establishment: Upper Strata in Boston, New York, Charleston, Chicago, and Los Angeles