American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865–1900
2010 non-fiction work by H. W. Brands
American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865–1900 is a 2010 nonfiction book written by historian H. W. Brands. Published in print and as an audiobook, the book narrates thirty-five years of the history of the United States following the American Civil War. Brands's interpretation of the period emphasizes how the expansion of capitalism and ascent of businessmen transformed the country. This "triumph of capitalism", in Brands's words, markedly improved the quality of life in the United States but threatened to subvert the egalitarian principles of democracy.
Reviewers praised the book's pace and readability. American Colossus received criticism for its dependence on secondary sources and citation of outdated works and for occasionally choppy transitions to topics less connected to the central theme. The Christian Century and Publishers Weekly considered the book's topic fitting for its time of publication. AudioFile complimented the audiobook edition's narration, provided by Robertson Dean.
Background
H. W. Brands, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, was as of December 2006 a "prolific historian", in the words of the Boston Globe. He is the author of what The Austin Chronicle called a "string of popular books" about the history of the United States.
“American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865–1900” enters the record as 2010 non-fiction work by H. W. Brands. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what American, Colossus and Triumph can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q125498752. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1865, 1900, 2010 and 2006.
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This entry incorporates text from “American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865–1900” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.