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A Nation of Steel: The Making of Modern America, 1865-1925 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

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"In what will surely become a standard history of steelmaking, Misa integrates that industry's development with the industrial growth of America in the half-century following the Civil War. Involved in the interplay between steel production and the production of America were such developments as the railroads' demand for steel rails following the Civil War, the role of urbanization and especially tall-building construction, the armor plate requirements of the Navy, and the emergence and growth of the automotive industry." -- Science, Technology and Society



Product Description

Awarded the Dexter Prize for Best Book in the History of Technology

"This truly outstanding book will become required reading in the history of technology. The story of steel is important in its own right, and Thomas Misa writes with remarkable clarity and succinctness... The emphasis upon user-producer interactions allows Misa to focus on the social significance of technologies and to bring out nuances and contingencies in the development of critical technologies and industries." -- Edwin T. Layton, Technology and Culture

From the age of railroads through the building of the first battleships, from the first skyscrapers to the dawning of the age of the automobile, steelmakers proved central to American industry, building, and transportation. In A Nation of Steel Thomas Misa explores the complex interactions between steelmaking and the rise of the industries that have characterized modern America. A Nation of Steel offers a detailed and fascinating look at an industry that has had a profound impact on American life.

"Each of Misa's six case studies is fruitful, and together they capture the enormously diverse and complex influences on technological change. Taken as a whole, this study constitutes a massive and successful assault on the neo-classical paradigm... This book will profoundly shape the way scholars understand how technologies 'are not only socially constructed but society-shaping.'" -- David Bensman, American Historical Review

"A brief review can not do justice to the subtlety with which Misa links steelmaking to a larger socioeconomic environment... Based on new information from archival and other primary sources, this well-written, richly textured work greatly expands our knowledge of American industrialization." -- W. David Lewis, Journal of American History

"In what will surely become a standard history of steelmaking, Misa integrates that industry's development with the industrial growth of America in the half-century following the Civil War. Involved in the interplay between steel production and the production of America were such developments as the railroads' demand for steel rails following the Civil War, the role of urbanization and especially tall-building construction, the armor plate requirements of the Navy, and the emergence and growth of the automotive industry." -- Science, Technology & Society

"A splendid overview of an industry whose fortunes were inextricably intertwined with the railroads... The protions that treat the dynamic interrelations of the steel industry and the railroads clearly stand as the most sophisticated treatment of this complex topic that has yet appeared in print... An immensely rewarding book." -- Robert C. Post, Railroad History

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (September 8, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0801860520
  • ISBN-13: 978-0801860522
  • Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #675,063 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Thomas J. Misa
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Early in the morning of 28 April 1869, eight Irish track layers-Michael Shay, Patrick Joyce, Michael Kennedy, Thomas Dailey, George Wyatt, Michael Sullivan, Edward Kieleen, and Fred McNamara-faced a full day's work, and then some. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
reckless mass production, shrinkage clause, crucible steelmakers, carbon classification, fusion classification, rail crisis, lathe tests, axle forgings, gun forgings, rail production, ore properties, finishing temperature, rail mills, blister steel, rolling temperatures, steel division, vanadium steel, merit index, ore lands, steel combine, total rails, iron puddlers, steel specifications, user sectors, chemical specifications
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Edgar Thomson, Andrew Carnegie, Pennsylvania Railroad, Bethlehem Steel, Pennsylvania Steel, Home Insurance, New Jersey, Bessemer Association, Alexander Holley, Union Iron, Union Pacific, World War, Central Pacific, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Navy Department, Annual Statistical Report, General Electric, Henry Ford, Jersey City, Kent Smith, West Shore, Carnegie Brothers
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Nation of Steel" outlined, May 24, 2007
By James Hoogerwerf (Auburn, AL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Thomas J Misa, A Nation of Steel, the Making of Modern America, 1865-1925 (1995)

Thesis: "The relationships between producers and consumers are the single most important determinant of the dynamics of technology and social change." (xix) "The view of technology as applied science has served as a powerful myth for legitimating science policy..., but this view is worse than useless for comprehending the dynamics of technical and social change." (xv)

Chapter 1. "The Dominance of rails 1865-1885"
Three RR building campaigns, 1872, 1882, 1887
Henry Bessemer process: air could decarburize pig iron, blew it in from the bottom of a tilting converter.
Alexander L. Holley: designed Bessemer steel rail mills
From 1877-1915 (except depression decade of 1890s) price of steel rails determined by Bessemer Association & successors
Users and producers of rails could be owned by same corporation, ie Pennsylvania RR p 21
Continuous Bessemer process p26
How to determine quality? Chemistry. Distinguish iron from steel? p30
Carbon content: Steel .2-1% p33 Fusion p32, p38
Steel making in US created for a single product: making steel rails. p 42-43.
RR officials promoted funded and founded early Bessemer steel works
Train steel executives in modern management
Influenced scientific knowledge
Shaped pattern and pace of national development p43.

Chapter 2. "The Structure of Cities, 1880-1900"
New steel for urban structures broke the tyranny of the Bessemer steel rail and was a mammoth technical and scientific effort involving new linkages between producers and consumers of steel. p 50
Bessemer mills could not make structural steel for four reasons; p 76.
After rail market stagnated in late 1880s, the mass production of steel in the US depended on steel for urban structures. p 83
fireproof p86, rapid construction p87

Chapter 3. "The Politics of Armor, 1885-1915"
Harvey-Krupp cartel P129
Hayward Augustus Harvey, hardened armor p 120
London financing p122
Krupp patent p123
Never before had so many government officials interacted so intimately with so many managers and executives in private industry. p 129
Huge profits from armor permitted Carnegie to purchase iron ore lands and transportation that made it self sufficient in this vital raw material p 130

Chapter 4. "The merger of Steel, 1990-1910"
Changes in steel industry destabilized the rail and steel system that J. P. Morgan had just salvaged from competitive disarray and economic depression, triggering the events behind the formation in 1901 of the US Steel Corporation p 130
Morgan= worked to forestall destructive competition among the RRs and steel companies
Carnegie= the master of destructive competition p167
US steel was designed not to foster technological change, but to promote stability in the industrial system. p 170.
Innovation, as in high-speed steel for factories and alloy, sheet, and electric steel for automobiles came from beyond U.S. Steel. p171

Chapter 5. "The reform of Factories, 1895-1915"
Frederick W. Taylor: metal cutting research p174
High speed steel and the interplay between its science-inspired invention and its craft-oriented production. p175
One perfected the new steels cut at impressive and unprecedented rates p193
By 1902 a revolution in machine design was under way p200
Not only individual machines, but also the design of the factory itself p201
High-speed steel affected the traditional balance of power and authority in the shop p202
These developments in machine tools, factory design and metallurgy culminated in the rational factory movement in the automobile industry 209
in responding to a new and insistent user (the automobile makers) the U.S. steel was prodded into its fully mature form p209.

Chapter 6. "The Imperative of Automobiles, 1905-1925"
Five key interactions between the producers of steel and the automobile industry p213.
The establishment of standards for steel p213, 215
the use of alloy steel p213, 223, 229, 232
Proper heat treatment p213, 234
Continuous production of steel sheets p214, 241
electric steel making p214. 247

Chapter 7. "The Dynamics of Change"
After 1925 what is remarkable is how little the patterns of producing and using steel changed. p253
The real price of stability as outlined in previous chapters was the stifling of innovation p255
Tech innovation in the steel industry comes from companies other of the U.S. Steel p255
R&D and Tech change
electrical properties of steel containing silicon minimizes heat p255
stainless steel p257
Author's investigation into the decline of US Steel p261
Economics and technical change p 262 Technological development over time tend to be closely related to existing activities, irreversible and path dependent p265
Labor and technical change p266 Ultimately the industry's dismal labor policies represented a social choice to retain profits rather than distribute them as wages p270.
A focus on user-producer interactions complements and extends the sector-based analysis fo this study p274
Centralized interactions p 276 RRs before 1900, armor before 1895
Multi-centered interactions p277 RRS after 1900, armor after 1895
decentralized interactions p277 structures after1880, factories after 1890
direct consumer interactions p 277automobiles after 1910, alloys after 1920

Conclusion: p278 the resulting technology torpidity that doomed the industry was not primarily a matter of industrial concentration, outrageous behavior on the part of white and blue collar employees, or even dysfunctional relations among management, labor and government. What went wrong was the industry's relations with its consumers. p 278
need for public policy mechanisms to deal w/ perils and promise of technology. p 282
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great history about an important american product, February 9, 2007
Thomas Misa's account of how the Steel industry rose to prominence in the years of 1865-1925 is a masterful telling of the all American story. Steel was crucial for the development of this country from the transcontinental railroad to the automobile. The steel industry was dependant upon these contracts in order to grow. It was a highly centralized system in which the railroad presidents personally dealt with the negotiations. After the railroads newer and stronger steels were produced using the open hearth furnace as opposed to Bessemer so that stronger steel could be used in buildings. The rise of the skyscrapers literally reinvigorated the entire industry. This was followed by an increase in armor through the naval build up in the World War 1 era. The steel industry would reach its height during this time after suffering economic hardship from the panic of 1893. Finally the automobile would be the key to it all and bring about a new era of steel production. This book is well written and executed perfectly. Highly recommend for those who want to learn about the steel industry. This book does not go much past 1925 and only briefly addresses the question as to why the steel industry collapsed.
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