Alfred Chandler’s magisterial history of the rise of big business in the United States remains a vibrant force in contemporary intellectual life. In helping us identify broadly felt, less resistible tendencies inherent in certain technologies, he helps us comprehend more clearly what remains in play.

Walter Prescott Webb’s The Great Plains cuts across geology, physiography, climatology, botany, zoology, anthropology, history, and literature to venture to the very boundaries of what historians are comfortable in calling history.