Customer Reviews

Portraits in Steel: An Illustrated History of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation

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Yes, this book is a bit expensive, but worth every penny! It is an excellent written and photographc history of one of the greatest corportaions in US history. As a steel industry historian and collector my standards are very high and this book is better than my expectations. Lavishly illustrated and documented, this book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the steel industry. Unfortunately, the story of J&L has a sad ending, but this wonderful book will keep the steel fires burning for generations.

Portraits in Steel gives a good, broad overview of the history of Jones & Laughlin, liberally illustrated throughout. The book makes a good introduction to the iron and steel business without providing so much detail that it becomes dry reading. There was more information on early iron making than was to be expected and the book gives a reasonable amount of information on the hardware and basic practices used to make raw iron and steel over the years. Not surprisingly the text concentrates on the Pittsburgh region and in consequence the few more geographically dispersed portions of the company are not covered to any great extent. Labor relations are covered well, but some other elements are little touched upon. The text gives only a few clues as to where the raw materials used in the works came from or how they got to the furnaces, and there is very little information on who the major customers of J&L were over the years. J&L's involvement in the coal business is touched on only very briefly. A few drawings of the works, even in an abridged form with modest detail, would have been helpful and a map of the company's major plants would have been appreciated (locating Hennepin, IL, took a few minutes). There is just enough information on competition with foreign steelmakers in the 1970s and early 1980s and the acquisition of J&L by the conglomerate LTV to allow an understanding of the forces that led to J&L's demise. A photo of the bare land where the Aliquippa works once stood offers a poignant reminder that everything eventually changes and frequently not for the better.