One of the most original history books in a generation.

Anton Chaitkin's new book provides a completely new understanding of the industrial revolution and the strategic context for America's founding.

Chaitkin deeply documents the policy fight - industrial progress versus empire-dictated backwardness, exposing the shallow sophistries of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and revisionist ideologues on the origin of modern times.

"Who We Are" reveals:

• Benjamin Franklin, based in England, inspired and coordinated a small circle of progressive innovators who built Britain's first canals, invented the steam engine, and brought on the Industrial Revolution.
• Franklin and Alexander Hamilton's national banking, protectionist and manufacturing ideas countered the imperial doctrines of "free trade" and agrarianism promoted by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, formerly an anti-slavery revolutionary, had become the spokesman for Southern interests and the associated imperial trade system.
• A team of 6 statesmen and military leaders in the early 19th century revived the Revolutionary legacy and organized America's industrial transformation, building the canals, the first railroads, the coal and iron industries.