{"product_id":"the-greatest-capitalist-who-ever-lived-tom-watson-jr-and-the-epic-story-of-how-ibm-created-the-digital-age-9781541768529","title":"The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson Jr. and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age","description":"\u003cb\u003eA riveting, first-ever, sweeping biography of Thomas Watson, Jr. - more important to the history and development of the modern world than Vanderbilt, Morgan, Rockefeller, and Carnegie - who risked everything, personally and professionally, to reinvent IBM and launch the computer age that created the world we live in today\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Thomas Watson Jr. drove IBM to undertake the biggest gamble in business history with a revolution no other company of the age could dare- the creation in the 1960s of the IBM System\/360, the world's first fully integrated and compatible mainframe computer that laid the foundation for the information technology future. Its success made IBM the most valuable company in America. Fortune magazine touted him as \"the greatest capitalist who ever lived.\" Time named him one of the \"One Hundred People of the Century.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Behind closed doors, Watson was a multifaceted, complicated man. As a young man, he was a failed student and playboy, an unlikely candidate for corporate titan. He pulled his life together as a courageous World War II pilot and took over IBM after his father's death. He suffered from anxiety and depression so overwhelming that he spent days prostrate and locked in a bathroom at home while IBM faced crisis after crisis. And he carried out a family-shattering battle over the future of IBM with his brother Dick, who expected to follow him as CEO. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But despite his many demons, he laid the foundation for what eventually became the global information technology industry, which dominates today's world. His story, and the industry he created, is equal to, if not more important than that of Rockefeller and Standard Oil, Vanderbilt and the railroads, and Morgan in finance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e PublicAffairs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/24\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781541768529\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 592\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/28\/2023\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ralph Watson McElvenny, Marc Wortman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43103853936821,"sku":"9781541768529","price":27.63,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_1122e066-8064-413a-81d2-5c154a7ab767.jpg?v=1693281352","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-greatest-capitalist-who-ever-lived-tom-watson-jr-and-the-epic-story-of-how-ibm-created-the-digital-age-9781541768529","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}