Steel Giants: Historic Images from the Calumet Regional Archives [Hardcover]

Stephen G. McShane (Author), Gary Wilk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 2009

At the turn of the 20th century, an army of workers descended upon the northwest Indiana dunes to forge a world-class steel industry for America. As a result of the mills constructed by companies such as U.S. Steel and Inland Steel, grid-like cities on the shoreline of Lake Michigan grew into prosperous steel towns, drawing workers from all over the country and beyond. The Calumet region became one of the most heavily populated and ethnically diverse regions in the nation. The story of its phenomenal growth was captured by photographers from U.S. Steel in Gary and Inland Steel in East Chicago. Steel Giants presents a selection of these dramatic photographs, with detailed captions, showing the construction of the steel mills and steel towns, the early production of steel, and the people who lived and worked in the industry.

(2010)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I do love these dramatic pictures of massive machines at work, with great wheels and gears turning, with everyone in place except Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times." —Lance Trusty, author of Munster: A Centennial History

(Lance Trusty, author of Munster: A Centennial History 2009)

"This book will be of great interest to the thousands of men and women who have spent their lives working in the heavy industrial plants at the northwest part of the state." —Kenneth Schoon, author of Calumet Beginnings: Ancient Shorelines and Settlements at the South End of Lake Michigan

(Kenneth Schoon, author of Calumet Beginnings: Ancient Shorelines and Settlements at the South End of Lake Michigan 2010)

"Steel Giants... is 304 pages of the real history of the region and a keepsake for anyone interested in local history." —nwitimes.com, 12/7/2009

(nwitimes.com )

"The massive scale of transformation of Lake Michigan shoreline to the steel cities of Gary and East Chicago is evident in this collection of photographs and documents. The foreword provides historical context, and the images picture not only the industrial construction and processes for steel production, but also the people and communities that made them work." —ForeWord Reviews

(ForeWord Reviews )

"[Steel Giants] is a wonderful array of images from a time when enormous structures that poured out steel, and the people who worked within these structures, dominated the landscape." —Indiana Magazine of History, September 2010

(Indiana Magazine of History )

About the Author

Stephen G. McShane is the archivist/curator of the Calumet Regional Archives at Indiana University Northwest's library, and co-author of Moonlight in Duneland (IUP, 1998). He lives in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Gary S. Wilk is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University Northwest. He lives in Crown Point, Indiana.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Quarry Books; 1st ed edition (June 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253352991
• ISBN-13: 978-0253352996
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 11 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #837,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Industrial History, July 5, 2009

By 

Clarke Dunham "Broadway Scenic Designer" (Pottersville, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steel Giants: Historic Images from the Calumet Regional Archives (Hardcover)

That vast amalgam of the steel industry that lined virtually the entire South Shore of Lake Michigan never ceased to amaze me as I flew over it on my many trips in and out of Chicago from the East Coast, and it was equally depressing to watch the slow demise and near disappearance of Big Steel over the last thirty years leaving what appears to be a vast alley of soot and rust. It never occurred to me that I would ever need to know more about the subject than my own personal observations noted above. That all changed when I was engaged to design an exhibit based on the Steel Industry on the Lake Michigan South Shore.
The current meager supply of easily accessible information was vastly improved by the publication of "Steel Giants". This impressive photographic compilation of the now vanished industry puts in one place access to vast archives formerly easily available only to scholars and those willing to travel to Indiana. Due to the source material itself, it's not not the perfect compendium of the industry that might have been compiled by an independent eye. It is instead what the steel industry saw as important to note for reasons of publicity or record. That other book will have to be left to other enquiring industrial archaeologists yet to come. So take this book for what it is---a vast self-portrait of the Twentieth Century steel giants as they saw themselves. That said, it comprises a magnificent and beautifully produced corporate photographic record that you can actually hold in your hands and appreciate at a cost far less than a plane ticket.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great History of area, September 11, 2009

By 

Bill Moore - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Giants: Historic Images from the Calumet Regional Archives (Hardcover)

I think anyone who has either worked, lived, or has a family member that worked at either Inland Steel or USS Gary Works must have this book. Very few words but lots of very interesting and previously unseen by many people in and or from the area. The adjacent areas to these two mills have come full circle. They both started as sand dunes and now are re-approaching that same state again. AS the Steel Industry in these areas have gone, so have the areas (cities). Again, this is a must for anyone from these areas. Besides many of my fathers pictures are in this book. Regardless IT'S A MUST.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good history lesson, May 23, 2011

By 

Terry Pile "Career Advisors" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steel Giants: Historic Images from the Calumet Regional Archives (Hardcover)

Having grown up in northern Indiana, this is a terrific history lesson of the Indiana steel mills and the powerful force they were in the Calumet region. Beautifully laid out and documented, it took me back to my teenage days visiting the Indiana Dunes and seeing those "steel giants" in the background and the beautiful sunsets they created as a result of the pollution. Now when I visit, I am hardly aware of them. McShane and Wilk have done a great job of capturing a by-gone era.