Big Steel: The First Century of the United States Steel Corporation, 1901-2001 [Hardcover]

Kenneth Warren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2001

Big Steel is the first comprehensive history of the company at the center of America’s twentieth-century industrial life––the United States Steel Corporation.  Granted unprecedented access to the U.S. Steel archives, Warren tells the compelling history of this business.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Professor Warren brings forward a clear, well-argued and eminently fascinating account of the creation, growth, decline, and rebirth of US Steel, and does it in a way that I think will appeal not only to the academic experts, but will have a broad crossover appeal to general readers, and certainly to the large ‘business book’ market.”
—John N. Ingham, University of Toronto

“Warren brings forward a clear- well-argued and eminently fascinating account of the creation, growth and decline, and rebirth of U.S. Steel.” 
—Western Pa. Genealogical Society Quarterly

Warren has “a fine grasp for the  minutiae of geographic expansion and transportation costs in the industry, the size and kinds of steel-making cpacity additions, and the intricacies of raw material sourcing. . . . of much value as a guide to the outlines of the firm’s development.”  
--Journal of American History

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Kenneth Warren is Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, University of Oxford. He is the author of numerous books, including Wealth, Waste and Alienation: Growth and Decline in the Connellsville Coke Industry and Industrial Genius: The Working Life of Charles Michael Schwab.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press (June 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822941600
• ISBN-13: 978-0822941606
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,613,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating, highly commended "corporate biography", October 14, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Steel: The First Century of the United States Steel Corporation, 1901-2001 (Hardcover)

When the United States Steel Corporation was formed in 1901 it was the world's largest industrial organization producing two-thirds of the steel used in building America's cities, and with a job roster of more than one million individuals over the course of the following century. Big Steel is the story of US Steel over ten decades and how, although it dominated the industry for decades, was still subject to market forces and unexpected handicaps. In Big Steel, author Kenneth Warren draws upon the USX archives to provide an informative, fascinating, highly commended "corporate biography" and along the way explores how labor relations affected company management and strategy, how and why US Steel gradually declined; and how drastic measures taken in the 1980s and 1990s lead to a reemergence of this quintessential American company into once again establishing itself as a leader in steel-making efficiency.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Slow Read, November 8, 2005

By 

Jeffrey Urdan (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Steel: The First Century of the United States Steel Corporation, 1901-2001 (Hardcover)

Extremely well-researched, and virtually unreadable. This book is a never ending stream of figures on steel tonnages and plant openings/closings.

The author provides little in the way of explanation of the vast amount of industry jargon in the book (If you already know what is different and interesting about Continuous Casting, Finishing Capacity, Open Hearth vs. other blast furnace types, etc. this probably won't bother you).

There are some interesting story lines relating to the personalities, changes in American society, and the arc of the corporation as an entity over 100 years, but they are lost in the endless forest of statistics and the repetitive theme that the corporation was too big for its own good.