Something for Nothing

Jackson Lears has won accolades for his skill in identifying the rich and unexpected layers of meaning beneath the familiar and mundane in our lives. Now he challenges the conventional wisdom that the Protestant ethic of perseverance industry and disciplined achievement is what made America great. Turning to the deep seldom acknowledged reverence for luck that runs through our entire history from colonial times to the early twenty-first century Lears traces how luck chance and gambling have shaped and at times defined our national character.