Henry Ford and George Washington Carver had a unique friendship and a shared vision. This book details their paths to "green" manufacturing and the start of the chemurgic movement in America. It covers a number of little known projects such as their efforts to use ethanol as a national fuel, the use of soybeans for plastic production, and the use of waterpower for factories. This study of their collaboration shows how capitalism can drive the green movement and expand American industry.

The rubber industry was born in bankruptcy and built through bankruptcies. As this history details, many of the great rubber barons--Charles Goodyear, Harvey Firestone, B.F. Goodrich, F.A. Seiberling--found themselves or their companies in bankruptcy courts. Fortunately, the industry has always proven as elastic as its product. From the early search for an American location to process the rubber of the tropics to the collapse of the industry, this is the story of rubber in America.

Covering events such as banking crises, economic bubbles, natural disasters, trade embargoes, and depressions, this single-volume encyclopedia of major U.S. financial downturns provides readers with an event-driven understanding of the evolution of the American economy. The United States has fairly recently experienced the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. But crippling financial crises are hardly unusual: economic emergencies have occurred throughout American history and can be seen as a cyclical and "normal" (if undesirable) aspect of an economic system. This encyclopedia supplies objective, accessible, and interesting entries on 100 major U.S. financial crises from the Colonial era to today that have had tremendous domestic impact—and in many cases, global impact as well. The entries explore the history and impact of major economic events, including banking crises, economic shortages, recessions, national strikes and labor upheavals, natural resource shortages, panics, real estate bubbles, social upheavals, and the collapse of specific American industries such as rubber and steel production. Students will find this book an essential ready-reference on key events in American economic history that documents how and why these events led to significant financial and economic problems throughout the United States and around the globe.

Smith's first encounter with okra was of the worst kind: slimy and fried at a greasy-spoon diner. Despite that introduction, he developed a fascination with okra, leading him to discover a range of delicious ways to cook and eat this vagabond vegetable. Here Smith provides a roving and rich collection of okra history, lore, recipes, craft projects, growing advice, and so much more. -- adapted from back cover

One of corporate America's greatest foes shows how 12 CEOs he has known uniquely rejected narrow yardsticks of shareholder value by leading companies to larger models of prosperity and justice Over the course of 7 decades Ralph Nader has been Corporate America’s fiercest critic. Supreme Court Justice William Powell singled out Nader in his infamous memo as the “single most effective antagonist of American business… [the] target of his hatred… is corporate power.” But now, in a book that will surprise both his fans and critics, Nader profiles a small group of CEOs who he believes performed extraordinarily well as business leaders and civic reformers, some well-known, some not, who should be celebrated as exceptions whose life and career should be a course of emulation and inspiration for students of business, executives and the wider citizenry. This select group of mavericks and iconoclasts — which includes The Body Shop’s Anita Roddick, Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard, Vanguard’s John Bogle and Busboys and Poets' Andy Shallal —give us, Nader writes, “a sense of what might have been and what still could be if business were rigorously framed as a process that was not only about making money and selling things but improving our social and natural world.”

Whether you drool over their horsepower or decry their emissions, the car is an important and ubiquitous part of nearly all of our lives. And the history of their design and the innovations of their technologies can tell us a lot about how our values and attitudes have changed. In this book, Gregory Votolato shows us how and why the automobile has become—since its rise in the late nineteenth century—at once an object of unparalleled popular desire and a hugely problematic emblem of the modern world. Votolato explores the ways that our love-hate relationship with the car has been intimately connected with car design. He tells the story of the rise of the private passenger car and all the psychological, social, and economic functions it has come to serve beyond mere transportation. Introducing readers to the automotive design process, he traces the lifecycle of the car from the drawing board to the scrapyard, offering insights from key figures in the industry, as well as a careful evaluation of the car’s enormous environmental impact. At the same time, he looks at the many cultures tied into the automobile, from drag racing and customizing to the luxury coachcraft of the classic era. Along the way, he takes us for a ride in some of the most famous cars ever to have had their tires inflated, from the Model T to the Tesla. The result is a top-down, thrilling burn through the history of one of our most beloved—and lamented—inventions.

How long have composites been around? Where does the classical laminate theory come from? Who made the first modern fiber composite? This work in the history of materials science is the first examination of the strategies employed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in researching and developing hybrid materials. The author analyzes numerous sources which record a regular back and forth between applied design and exploratory materials engineering in building such “modular materials”. The motivations, ideas, and concepts of engineers, scientists, and other players in industry and research are also examined within the context of their day. This book presents the development and importance of composite materials within historical context. The content includes Early composite materials The development of composite materials in the industrial nineteenth century Composites in twentieth-century polymer chemistry The development of hybrid material systems in the second half of the twentieth century Summary. The author: Dr. Andreas T. Haka is an engineer and historian of science and technology. He is currently a lecturer in the Section for the History of Science and Technology at the University of Stuttgart. His main focus is on the history and practice of materials research, raw materials, materials science and technological constructive design, scientific networks, and research technologies.