A sweeping, global history of the rise of the factory and its effects on society.
We live in a factory-made world: modern life is built on three centuries of advances in factory production, efficiency, and technology. But giant factories have also fueled our fears about the future since their beginnings, when William Blake called them "dark Satanic mills." Many factories that operated over the last two centuries―such as Homestead, River Rouge, and Foxconn―were known for the labor exploitation and class warfare they engendered, not to mention the environmental devastation caused by factory production from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution up to today.
In a major work of scholarship that is also wonderfully accessible, celebrated historian Joshua B. Freeman tells the story of the factory and examines how it has reflected both our dreams and our nightmares of industrialization and social change. He whisks readers from the textile mills in England that powered the Industrial Revolution and the factory towns of New England to the colossal steel and car plants of twentieth-century America, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union and on to today’s behemoths making sneakers, toys, and cellphones in China and Vietnam.
The giant factory, Freeman shows, led a revolution that transformed human life and the environment. He traces arguments about factories and social progress through such critics and champions as Marx and Engels, Charles Dickens, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Ford, and Joseph Stalin. He chronicles protests against standard industry practices from unions and workers’ rights groups that led to shortened workdays, child labor laws, protection for organized labor, and much more.
In Behemoth, Freeman also explores how factories became objects of great wonder that both inspired and horrified artists and writers in their time. He examines representations of factories in the work of Charles Sheeler, Margaret Bourke-White, Charlie Chaplin, Diego Rivera, and Edward Burtynsky.
Behemoth tells the grand story of global industry from the Industrial Revolution to the present. It is a magisterial work on factories and the people whose labor made them run. And it offers a piercing perspective on how factories have shaped our societies and the challenges we face now.
30 illustrations

This is the engrossing story of the world's most common man-made material - from ancient times to the present day. Concrete: We walk on it, drive on it, and many of us work within its walls. Yet, very few of us know what it is. We take it for granted, yet the story of its creation and development features a cast of fascinating characters and remarkable historical episodes. In a lively narrative filled with intriguing details, "Concrete Planet" describes how some of history's most famous personalities helped in the development and use of concrete - including King Herod, Emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison, and Frank Lloyd Wright. It also examines evidence suggesting the discovery of concrete led directly to the Neolithic Revolution (8,000-5,000 BC) and the rise of the earliest civilizations, and how, much later, the Romans achieved extraordinarily high production standards - seen in structures such as the Coliseum and the Pantheon - which were lost for millennia after the Empire's fall.

这是探索频道正在播出的一套介绍各种日常生活用品的制作生产过程的系列片。极富娱乐性和知识性。 当我们的日常生活因琳琅满目的各类产品而变得更加丰富多彩的同时，你有没有想过，这些产品是如何制造出来的呢？ Discovery的王牌节目《How it's Made》将带领我们亲眼目睹数千种产品的生产过程。从我们日常生活经常接触到的面食，糖果等；到高端技术如计算机，汽车，飞机等，几乎无所不包。 这套节目是在加拿大录制的。加拿大是一个独立性很强的工业化国家，我们可以透过节目了解到几乎所有行业的产品；加拿大同时是一个自主性很强的工业化国家，不像我国的工业结构那样偏向简单的来料加工，加拿大的工厂更多的是一气呵成，从产品设计研发到包装出厂基本是一厂包办。这使我们能更深入了解产品的生产流程。由于国情的不同，节目还会介绍少量我们闻所未闻的产品。 俗语说得好，百闻不如一见。你不需要拥有制造业的专业知识，通过观看该节目就能了解这些产品的来龙去脉。当中的宏大的生产场面，运转流畅无阻的流水线，精确无误的装配，鬼斧神工的技术，妙不可言的构思，绝对令人叹为观止，获益良多。 这套节目极富娱乐性和知识性，全面的展示制造业的魅力，其对众多行业的各种产品的介绍绝对能开阔您的视野，启发你的灵感。 该套节目生动易懂，适合所有人群观看。小朋友观看这套节目，能激发他们的好奇心，启发他们的创造力，增强他们的发散思维能力。当然，他们需要家长的指导。如果你对制造业有一定研究，那就更加不能错过这套节目了。 外行看热闹，内行看门道。这套节目绝对能让你感受到什么叫 “师夷长技以自强”！ 来自人人影视

《高铁风云录》是世界范围内首本高铁发展史，全书以人物为线索，以故事为主体，立足科普，以轻松的笔调，讲述世界高铁发展背后的大国博弈、风云激荡、恩怨情仇，重点揭秘了高铁肇始于日本，发展于欧洲，格局大变于中国的前世今生，里面有工业狂人，有大国的崛起和博弈……
随着高铁外交席卷全球，人们对高铁产业的发展内幕也日益好奇，高铁是怎样诞生的？高铁发展为何充满争议？汽车工业发展三十多年还只是外资打工仔，高铁为何能在短时间内就屹立于世界列强之林？背后又经历了怎样的曲折与惊心动魄的历程？高铁提速真的是吃掉了安全余量？中国高铁旋风为何能迅速刮遍全球？大国崛起必然伴随交通工具的变迁，高铁作为国之重器是否拥有改变世界的力量？……