Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World

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 exploitatio...