Freedom's forge
by Arthur Herman · first published 2012
89% recommend11% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Narrative history of how American industry mobilized for WWII, centering on Henry Kaiser and the shipyards that built the merchant fleet. For readers curious about wartime production and industrial organization.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Remarkable as it may seem today, there once was a time when the president of the United States could pick up the phone and ask the president of General Motors to resign his position and take the reins of a great national enterprise. And the CEO would oblige, no questions asked, because it was his patriotic duty. In Freedom's Forge, bestselling author Arthur Herman takes us back to that time, revealing how two extraordinary American businessmen—automobile magnate William Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser—helped corral, cajole, and inspire business leaders across the country to mobilize th
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For some of the details on how production was organized and ramped up, see Freedom's forge: how American business produced victory in World War II by Arthur Herman: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13152691-freedom-s-forge It focuses on the efforts of two individuals: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Knudsen…
on “How the War Was Won” ↗…the start of WW1. What a tragedy. There's a good chance that if that collision did not happen, then WW1 would not have happened, because Great Britain would have still been un-challengeble on the seas. Freedom's Forge - by Arthur Herman. How America mobilized itself on the economic front. Unleashing the US industrial production juggernaut seems like preordained in hindsight, but it was anything but that. This book…
on “Ask HN: Which are the most interesting books you have read in 2022?” ↗Freedom’s Forge by Arthur Herman is a Greta book in the US homeland industrial transformation in WWII. I hope you’re right and I hope it works. We are up against a well aligned and fused authoritarian juggernaught.…
on “Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Build WeChat for the West” ↗Interested readers may enjoy Freedom's Forge by Arthur Herman, which chronicles, amongst other things, how Henry Kaiser led the rapid construction of the shipyards used to build the merchant fleet that helped the United States win the second world…
on “The U.S. needs a shipbuilding revolution” ↗Freedom's Forge
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗…Engine That Could - Children's classic. 31. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - Success mechanics. 32. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight - Founding of Nike. 33. Black Hole Blues by Janna Levin - Building LIGO. 34. Freedom’s Forge - WWII industry mobilization. 35. Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes - Electrification by Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse. 36. The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough - Panama Canal construction. 37.…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗Freedom’s Forge is one I’d recommend, I started reading it and couldn’t put it down until the end.
on “Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?” ↗There's a book called Freedom's Forge that I'm a fan of, it makes the argument that the Auto Industry (And assembly lines, mechanization in general) were the single most important reason the Allies won WWII. In fact all the big auto manufacturers…
on “Yann LeCun: Human-level artificial intelligence is going to take a long time” ↗If you're interested in the US war build up in general, Freedom's Forge is an excellent read.
on “How the US built 5k ships in WWII” ↗…https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/manufacturing-is-a-war-now FDR started preparing for war years before WW2 / Pearl Harbor (warning: heavy anti-union slant in the book as it was funded by AEI): * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13152691-freedom-s-forge
on “China is the manufacturing superpower” ↗> Interested readers may enjoy Freedom's Forge by Arthur Herman Please note that, while a good read, the book was initially financed by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a group of large corporations who have a vested interest in making business…
on “The U.S. needs a shipbuilding revolution” ↗