Manufacturing: A Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide

(Hardback)

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Description

Overall, this first volume in the series should render business research in manufacturing a good deal easier by bringing together insightful industry histories and detailed critical bibliographies. This series has much to recommend it. Future volumes will be eagerly awaited. Reference Books Bulletin This historical and bibliographical reference work is the first volume of Greenwood Press's Handbook of American Business History, a series intended to supplement current bibliographic materials pertaining to business history. Devoted to manufacturing, this work uses the Enterprise Standard Industrial Classification (ESIC) to divide the subject into distinct segments, from which contributors have developed histories and bibliographies of the different types of manufacturing. Though authors were given sets of guidelines to follow, they were also allowed the flexibility to work in a format that best suited the material. Each contribution in this volume contains three important elements: a concise history of the manufacturing sector, a bibliographic essay, and a bibliography. Some contributions appear in three distinct parts, while others are combined into one or two segments; all build on currently available material for students and scholars doing research on business and industry. The contributors, who include business, economic, and social historians, as well as engineers and lawyers, have covered such topics as bakery products, industrial chemicals and synthetics, engines and turbines, and household appliances. Also included are an introductory essay that covers general works and a comprehensive index. This book should be a useful tool for courses in business and industry, and a valuable resource for college, university, and public libraries.

Reviews

. . . Manufacturing is an essential starting point for new research endeavors in business and industrial history.-The Journal of American History
A collection of historical and bibliographical essays on American industry as defined by the Standard Industrial Classification Code. After an introductory chapter on US business history in general, the present volume treats manufacturing only. No indication is given of the publication of future volumes on nonmanufacturing industries. Industries are covered at a very general level (2 digit SIC). A few more specific industries are included (3 digit SIC). For example, one section covers electric and electrical equipment (36) and includes articles on household appliances (363) and electric lighting (364) but not household audio and video equipment (365). Some major industries such as printing and publishing are not represented at all. As in most collections of essays, quality and coverage vary. Articles are signed and a list of contributors with their credentials is included. These essays would serve as an excellent starting point for anyone interested in the history of an industry. Research on the current state of US industry would require searching the standard periodical indexes. Recommended for graduate academic business collections.-Choice
This new series joins two others in the field of business history. Both St James' International Directory of Company Histories and Facts On File's Encyclopedia of American Business and Biography contain the histories of individual companies. Since the Greenwood series treats industries rather than specific companies, it complements the other two series. Overall, this first volume in the series should render business research in manufacturing a good deal easier by bringing together insightful industry histories and detailed critical bibliographies. This series has much to recommend it. Future volumes will be eagerly awaited.-Booklist
." . . Manufacturing is an essential starting point for new research endeavors in business and industrial history."-The Journal of American History
"This new series joins two others in the field of business history. Both St James' International Directory of Company Histories and Facts On File's Encyclopedia of American Business and Biography contain the histories of individual companies. Since the Greenwood series treats industries rather than specific companies, it complements the other two series. Overall, this first volume in the series should render business research in manufacturing a good deal easier by bringing together insightful industry histories and detailed critical bibliographies. This series has much to recommend it. Future volumes will be eagerly awaited."-Booklist
"A collection of historical and bibliographical essays on American industry as defined by the Standard Industrial Classification Code. After an introductory chapter on US business history in general, the present volume treats manufacturing only. No indication is given of the publication of future volumes on nonmanufacturing industries. Industries are covered at a very general level (2 digit SIC). A few more specific industries are included (3 digit SIC). For example, one section covers electric and electrical equipment (36) and includes articles on household appliances (363) and electric lighting (364) but not household audio and video equipment (365). Some major industries such as printing and publishing are not represented at all. As in most collections of essays, quality and coverage vary. Articles are signed and a list of contributors with their credentials is included. These essays would serve as an excellent starting point for anyone interested in the history of an industry. Research on the current state of US industry would require searching the standard periodical indexes. Recommended for graduate academic business collections."-Choice

Author Bio

DAVID O. WHITTEN is Professor of Economics at Auburn University and Editor of the Wall Street Review. He is the author of Andrew Durnford: A Black Sugar Planter in Antebellum Louisiana (1981) and The Emergence of Giant Enterprise, 1860-1914: American Commercial Enterprise and Extractive Industries (Greenwood Press, 1983). BESSIE E. WHITTEN is the Supervisor of the Manuscript Preparation Division of the College of Business at Auburn University. She has served as copy editor for the University of Florida Law Review and the Journal of Management. She is also the Assistant Editor of the Wall Street Review.