American Steel [Paperback]

Richard Preston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1992

A report on the resurrection of an American Dream provides a glimmer of hope on the seemingly barren economic horizon with the story of an Indiana steel company that is aiming to restore some of the 300,000 jobs lost in that industry over the past decade. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1987 a maverick and minor-rank steel company named Nucor set out to challenge American "big steel" and foreign competition by crash-building on Indiana farmland a new facility, of German design, to produce sheet metal for consumer products, profitably and at competitive prices. In order to document this partial reversal of America's steel-industry decline, Preston ( First Light ) lived for months with Nucor's principal players: down-to-earth CEO Ken Iverson, larger-than-life project boss Keith Busse, cool unit manager Mark Millet and bossy Westphalian inventor-machinists. Also present are dozens of proud "hot metal" workers sweating around the clock to iron out start-up kinks, surviving fiery explosions and runaway meltdowns, and occasionally belting down boilermaker highballs to ease the tension. Preston's skillful narrative, deft characterization, authentic dialogue and description of operations make this an absorbing, informative, moving reading experience. First serial to the New Yorker.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1987, Nucor, the ninth largest steel company in the United States, bulldozed one square mile of Indiana cornfield and built the world's first compact strip production steel mill. Preston, author of First Light ( LJ 12/87), provides more than a compelling account of the mill's creation; he profiles and champions Nucor's hard-working, fast-driving, heavy-drinking, union-hating, hot-metal steelworkers who literally risk their lives to rekindle the fire of America's steel industry. Using suspenseful, tension-filled narration and nontechnical language, Preston dramatizes the Crawfordsville Project's birthpangs and its revolutionary German steelmaking process that, after two years and $250 million, finally transforms rusted Cadillacs, abandoned refrigerators, and broken truck axles into hot-rolled steel. This book, which will find a wide audience, just might ignite a desire among businesses to resurrect other neglected industries as well. Highly recommended for all libraries. Excerpted in The New York er .
- Andrea C. Dragon, Coll. of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (P) (June 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380718227
• ISBN-13: 978-0380718221
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #727,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Preston is the bestselling author of The Hot Zone, The Demon in the Freezer, and the novel The Cobra Event. A writer for The New Yorker since 1985, Preston is the only nondoctor to have received the Centers for Disease Control's Champion of Prevention Award. He also holds an award from the American Institute of Physics. Preston lives outside of New York City.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons in leading strategic change July 17, 2000

By K. Scott Proctor VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The overarching theme of Richard Preston's book, American Steel, is that of leading strategic change, a concept central to the discipline of managerial science. Another important theme of the book restates a concept central to the discipline of finance: the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward.

From the moment Ken Iverson took the helm of the Nuclear Corporation of America in 1965, he was charged with leading strategic change. He "became president by default...no one else wanted the job...His job description was merely to stave off bankruptcy." Taking the path of least resistance, Iverson focused on the company's only profitable unit, the Vulcraft joist division.

Instead of purchasing bar steel from other companies, Iverson decided to build a steel mill himself. This was a tremendous risk; as he put it, "We played 'Bet-the-Company'." This gets directly to the point mentioned above -- the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward. By employing untrained, unskilled workers at this new plant in South Carolina, Iverson increased the risk profile of the company even further. This move, however, combined with a generous bonus plan, engendered a sense of trust and responsibility in the workers after some time. Trust, as it turns out, is the currency of change -- and change is just what Iverson was trying to accomplish.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars From begining to end, an excellent true story February 20, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I had just recently started working at a steel plant when I discovered this book. I learned alot about the steel industry, from experiences that the author had first hand, to the politics. I couldn't put it down. What I enjoyed most about it was that it's all real. The things that are described, from the EAF, to the rolling mill, I relate to it every day. At any perspective, from the office to the grunt work, it keeps your mind going.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A company bent on beating Japan at making steel March 7, 1999

By "messiah1977"

Format:Paperback

Never in my wildest dreams would I expect to root for a steel factory in west-central Indiana to save American industry, but you have to read "American Steel" to believe it. Nucor Corporation has a wild idea about building a plant in tiny Crawfordsville, Indiana, and beat Big Steel and Japan at the same time with non-union labor. Though the writing style is fairly simple the story itself is fabulous and I wouldn't believe it if I didn't know it was true.