Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- I. Another Take on How It All Began -- 1. The Capitalist Spirit and the British Economic Miracle -- 2. "The Great Seventeenth-Century Exception" -- II. The Spread of the New Economic Consciousness on the European Continent -- 3. The First Convert: France -- 4. The Power of Concerted Action: Putting the Spirit of Capitalism to Work in Germany -- III. The Asian Challenge: The Way of Japan -- 5. Japanese Nationalism -- 6. Racing and Fighting -- IV. The Economic Civilization: The Spirit of Capitalism in the New World -- 7. Searching for the American System -- 8. The Thrust -- Epilogue: Looking Backward from Year 2000 -- Notes -- Index.