The great steel-making town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, traces its history to the bloody defeat of General Edward Braddock in the early days of the French and Indian War. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Braddock happened to be the hometown of some of America's greatest steel manufacturing industrialists, including Andrew Carnegie. Other "wars" then would be fought on Braddock's Field: wars of egos and ideals, labor wars, and contests of manufacturing prowess between behemoth blast furnaces. Workingmen lost their lives and limbs in those fiery furnaces, ultimately meeting the same fate on that bloody ground as General Braddock and his soldiers. The "Boys of Braddock" developed concepts in industrial management that changed the Industrial Revolution. The earlier "Industrial Victorians" were the first to apply science and technology to industry, but the "Industrial Edwardians" such as Carnegie and his great managers, Bill Jones and Charles Schwab, believed that harmony between the human and machine elements could allow for the advance of the science of management, as well as greater productivity and profitability. These principles led to improvements for the workingman, such as the demise of the twelve-hour day in favor of the eight-hour day. The Boys of Braddock is a captivating rags-to-riches story, woven together from a little history, a little metallurgy, and a little industrial management.
Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr., Ph.D.
(2004), 2006, 5.5" x 8.5", paper, index, 240 pp.
ISBN: 9780788425165
101-S2516
