Published June 28, 2026
America is known as a land of entrepreneurship and a country that continually reinvents itself while retaining a commitment to its Founding ideals. Are the two things distinct, as is commonly believed, or are they intrinsically related? Arthur Herman argues they’re interrelated in his new book, Founder’s Fire, which makes it a fascinating read on our current political moment.
Herman’s book is ambitious. He simultaneously presents a history of American business entrepreneurship from Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin to the quest for AI and a political history of the country from the Founders to Trump. Herman shows the entrepreneurial virtues that create new, transformative companies—such as willingness to take risk and putting customer needs first—are the same that have animated great leaders like George Washington, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln. It’s an audacious thesis, one that rings true if one takes a minute to think about it.
People like Cornelius Vanderbilt and Henry Ford, two titans Herman lauds, did not know their ventures would be successful when they started. They were blazing new paths in creating affordable steamboat shipping, railroad travel and transport, and inexpensive, mass-produced automobiles. They frequently failed in their initial attempts to create what had never existed before. Their ultimate successes stemmed from uncommonly strong belief in themselves and their visions and a willingness to learn and adapt from prior missteps.
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Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a globally recognized expert on American elections and policy as well as global populism.
