Laird on Self-Made Success Myth

Published: Feb. 2, 2017

In December, Pam Laird, History, published "How business historians can save the world—from the fallacy of self-made success" as the lead article in a special issue on narratives in the British journal Business History. She tracks the history of the self-making concept from its original sense of community-serving self-improvement to its modern glorification of individual ambition. She also examines some of the political consequences of that shift in meaning.