Captains of Industry

[T]he great service rendered by Ludwick to the cause of his adopted country was in supplying her soldiers with good bread. In 1777, Congress gave him a regular commission as "Superintendent of Bakers and Director of Baking in the Army of the United States," at seventy-five dollars a month and two rations a day... -from "Christopher Ludwick, Baker-General of the Revolutionary Army" A primer for children on the "sterling qualities" that drive the American industrialist, this charming 1884 volume introduces us to a gallery of upstanding characters. Some you've heard of (Horace Greeley, Journalist; Peter Cooper, Philanthropist), but most you haven't (Elihu Burritt, The Learned Blacksmith; Michael Reynolds, Engine-Driver; Alvan Clarke, Telescope Maker). Parton's biographical sketches are delightful encapsulations of Yankee cleverness, enterprise, and the Can-do! spirit that will enchant readers young and old. American writer, educator, and lecturer JAMES PARTON (1822-1891) was born in England and emigrated to New York as a small child. He wrote prodigiously on a wide variety of subjects; his books include Life of Horace Greeley (1855), Humorous Poetry of the English Language from Chaucer to Saxe (1856), and Manual for the Instruction of Rings, Railroad and Political, and How New York is Governed (1866).