Uses a comparative development economic approach - not a detailed economic history, but a reasoned survey of the pivotal points in US economic development
Presents new interpretative tools, such as flow charts regarding the economic consequences of the frontier, the Fordist model of growth, and the stock-flow relations that heavily contributed to the Great Recession of 2008-9
Shows the shifts in global power occurring from 1870 to 2017 and the changing role played by the United States in the international arena
Outlines the main sources of strength and of weakness of the US economy and their changes over time
Includes an in-depth analysis of the Great Depression and of the recent Great Recession
Examines the widening of economic inequalities since the 1980s
Compares the economic policies of Obama and Trump
Takes an 'outsider-looking-in' approach from an American-trained, leading Italian academic in comparative economics