Plywood Empires: The Cheap Composite Wood That Won a Global War and Built the Modern World

When we think of the materials that won the Second World War, we picture steel tanks, aluminum bombers, and uranium cores. Wood is generally dismissed as an archaic, obsolete resource that was left behind during the industrial revolution.

This oversight ignores one of the most brilliant engineering pivots in military history. Facing severe metal shortages, engineers turned to a cheap, layered composite that had previously been used primarily for making tea chests and doors: plywood. Through ...