Overview

The extraordinary story of the development of America's industrial muscle and the rise of big business during World War II For admirers of books by Erik Larson and Stephen Ambrose, here's a great, meaty, and untold story of World War II - how American big business set out to build the weapons and create the industrial muscle to arm the Allies and defeat the Axis, from the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Ghandi & Churchill. Bestselling author Arthur Herman reveals how two extraordinary American businessmen - the Danish immigrant William Knudsen and shipbuilding industrialist Henry Kaiser - helped corral, cajole, manipulate, and inspire big business around the country to help mobilize the war effort and what later critics would call the American military-industrial complex, without which the history of America, as well as of the Second World War, would be very different. Together these men changed the face not only of American business and industry but of American society. At the same time their efforts transformed the culture of America's armed services, giving the army, navy, and air force both the tools and the new strategies for securing a postwar global order.

Full Product Details

Author:   Arthur Herman
Publisher:   Random House USA Inc
Imprint:   Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.,U.S.
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.717kg
ISBN:  

9781400069644

ISBN 10:   1400069645
Pages:   432
Publication Date:   08 May 2012
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Reviews

<p>Advance praise for Freedom's Forge <br> <br> World War II could not have been won without the vital support and innovation of American industry. Arthur Herman's engrossing and superbly researched account of how this came about, and the two men primarily responsible for orchestrating it, is one of the last great, untold stories of the war. --Carlo D'Este, author of Patton: A Genius for War <br> <br> It takes a writer of Arthur Herman's caliber to make a story essentially based on industrial production exciting, but this book is a truly thrilling story of the contribution made by American business to the destruction of Fascism. With America producing two-thirds of the Allies' weapons in World War II, the contribution of those who played a vital part in winning the war, yet who never once donned a uniform, has been downplayed or ignored for long enough. Here is their story, with new heroes to admire--such as William Knudsen and Henry Kaiser--who personified the can-do spirit of those stirring times. --Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War

A rambunctious book that is itself alive with the animal spirits of the marketplace. -- The Wall Street Journal <br> A rarely told industrial saga, rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry . . . Arthur Herman has set out to right an injustice: the loss, down history's memory hole, of the epic achievements of American business in helping the United States and its allies win World War II. -- The New York Times Book Review <br> Magnificent . . . It's not often that a historian comes up with a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory in World War II, but Pulitzer finalist Herman . . . has done just that. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) <br> A compulsively readable tribute to 'the miracle of mass production.' -- Publishers Weekly <br> The production statistics cited by Mr. Herman . . . astound. -- The Economist <br> [A] fantastic book. -- Forbes <br> Freedom's Forge is the story of how the ingenuity and energy of the American private sector was turned loose to equip the finest military force on the face of the earth. In an era of gathering threats and shrinking defense budgets, it is a timely lesson told by one of the great historians of our time. --Donald Rumsfeld <br> World War II could not have been won without the vital support and innovation of American industry. Arthur Herman's engrossing and superbly researched account of how this came about, and the two men primarily responsible for orchestrating it, is one of the last great, untold stories of the war. --Carlo D'Este, author of Patton: A Genius for War <br> It takes a writer of Arthur Herman's caliber to make a story essentially based on industrial production exciting, but this book is a truly thrilling story of the contribution made by American business to the destruction of Fascism. With America producing two-thirds of the Allies' weapons in World War II, the contribution of those who

Author Information

Arthur Herman, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of How the Scots Invented the Modern World, which has sold more than half a million copies worldwide. His most recent work, Gandhi & Churchill, was the 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions