Born in the USA: The American Book of Origins

From Bubble Wrap to Bubblegum, from Men-on-the-Moon to Monopoly, from Kidney Transplants to Kool-Aid, to microwave ovens to M & M’s, America has been at the forefront of the main advances of the human race for the last two centuries. America has given birth to more new products, devices, medicines, leisure pursuits, sports, religions, music and vehicles than any other country, ancient or modern. Born in the USA celebrates that great pioneering drive which is the pulsing heart of America, with some surprising inventors such as George Washington, Jamie Lee Curtis, Abraham Lincoln, Lee Trevino, Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen. (Zeppo Marx, last of the Marx Brothers, developed the first heart pulse-rate monitor.) Americans have also created some of the most bizarre and comic inventions ever dreamed up. The same country that gave the world the heart pacemaker and email, also gave us the “Denver Boot” (wheel clamps) and Chinese fortune cookies.