About the Authors
A mechanical engineer by training, Kenneth Hopper was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1926. He has been active throughout his professional life as a consultant on industrial matters in the U.S. and Europe. As a writer he has taken a particular interest in differing national managerial cultures, which encouraged him to go to Ireland when the ‘Celtic Miracle’ was getting underway, to Japan when that country’s ‘Economic Miracle’ was at its peak and finally to the United States. He is now U.S. citizen living in New Jersey.
By his articles and lectures, Kenneth has been largely responsible for uncovering and publicizing the activities of the Civil Communications Section of the General MacArthur’s command in Tokyo after World War-II.
Kenneth Hopper in front of the historic Red Mill, Clinton/NJ (photo by Melissa White)
William Hopper, who is the younger brother, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1929. A modern linguist by training, he has been an investment banker for over 40 years, beginning his career as a financial analyst at W.R. Grace & Co. in New York, then becoming personal assistant to Sigmund Warburg at S.G. Warburg in London. 
As a Director of Morgan Grenfell in London, he pioneered the Dragon Bond Market in East Asia in 1976 with a fund-raising for the European Investment Bank (ranked by Institutional Investor as ‘Deal of the Year’) and launched the first Eurobond issue for an East European country (Hungary) in the same year.
William was chairman of the placement agents, WJ Hopper & Co. Limited, until March 31, 2009, in which capacity he helped entrepreneurs to raise capital to invest in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Founder Chairman of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London, he is still a member of its Executive Committee. He entered the Guinness Book of Records by spectacularly winning a ‘safe’ Labour Party seat for the Conservatives in the first elected European Parliament (1979-1984).
Their combined knowledge of manufacturing and finance gives this book its unique depth and perspective.
As a tribute to the quality of the scholarship demonstrated by them in writing THE PURITAN GIFT: TRIUMPH, COLLAPSE AND REVIVAL OF AN AMERICAN DREAM, Kenneth Hopper and William Hopper have been appointed Visiting Fellows in Manchester Business School in the Faculty of Humanities for the period 2008 -2011.
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