Customer Reviews

German Industry and Global Enterprise: BASF: The History of a Company

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This is a very well researched and detailed history of the German chemical company "Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik" (BASF) founded in the 1860s. The book discusses the development of the company chronologically.
Initially, coaltar products(aniline) were the company's business. After
William Perkin's discovery of mauve, an important dye derived from aniline, BASF developed and manufactured many synthetic dyes : indigo,
fuchsin,alizarin and many others. The company pioneered in basic research
and collaborated with universities. They also believed in vertical integration: manufacturing many of the materials that went into dye synthesis : soda,sulfuric acid,and chlorine were some of these.
After Fritz Haber's demonstration of the direct synthesis of ammonia ,BASF
acquired the rights to the process , and their chemist Carl Bosch led a team that developed large-scale ammonia plants.
The book discusses the formation of IG Farben the cartel of which BASF was part, and its involvement in production of synthetic gasoline, rubber
and other materials for NAZI germany.
There are many other matters discussed: particularly business arrangements, patents, pollution issues, and the involvement of some managers of IG Farben in war crimes.
As a chemist, I wished for some more specific details on the chemistry involved. There are no chemical formulas in the book, and some of the
descriptions of chemistry sound strange.
The references given are extremely extensive, and imply access to many internal BASF documents, as well as personal diaries.
This book is an essential reference for anyone trying to understand
the military/industrial/political developments in Germany 1900-present.