In How Government Built America, Sidney A. Shapiro and Joseph P. Tomain suggest that such ambitions will face significant headwinds, especially if President Trump’s policies do not deliver broadly diffused economic benefits. Shapiro and Tomain provide a rapid-fire overview of key moments in the evolution of American political economy and the social boundaries of political citizenship, framed by the last half century’s intensifying political assaults on the role of government in shaping economic life.