The Great Creators: Profiles of America's Remarkable Inventors and Innovators Volume 1

America is a fitting metaphor for invention and innovation, a new nation founded in 1789 by a group of brilliant visionaries who conceived a new system of government and an enduring Constitution. Adhering to a political and moral philosophy that provided freedom of expression and ideas, enabled the nation to become an incubator for invention and to spawn some of the great innovations that have forever changed our lives and our way of living.

Since the United States Patent Office opened in 1790 it has granted more than 6 million patents. According to the Smithsonian Institute, the number of patents issued increased dramatically during the 19th century, stimulated by, and fueling, the American industrial revolution. The middle and late 19th century, SI concluded, was a golden age for American invention.

The Great Creators by award-winning author Daniel Alef, profiles the remarkable lives and achievements not only of the great inventors, including such giants as Thomas Edison, Robert Fulton, Isaac Singer and Henry Ford, but also such innovators as Frederick Law Olmsted, Thomas Nast and Walt Disney. These men and women paved the way with their vision, determination, perseverance, and creativity, providing us with better and more accessible food, medicine, transportation, sanitation, communication, entertainment, employment, recreation and a promising future.

Volume 1, the first of a 2-volume set, profiles the following inventors and innovators:

Elizabeth Arden
Doc "Leo" Baekeland
Jeff Bezos
William Edward Boeing
Walter Chrysler
Samuel Colt
John Deere
Walt Disney
George Eastman
Thomas Edison
Cyrus Field
Henry Ford
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Fulton
Amadeo P. Giannini
Charles Goodyear
Ruth Handler
Howard Hughes
Milton Hershey
Steve Jobs
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson
John H. Kellogg
Wil K. Kellogg
Charles Kettering
Ray Kroc
Estee Lauder
Henry Leland
Henry Robinson Luce
Cyrus McCormick
William F. B. Morse
Thomas Nast
Jack Northrop
Ransom E. Olds
Frederick Law Olmsted
George Pullman
David Sarnoff
Henry Steinway
Sam Walton
The Wright Brothers
Mark Zuckerberg