This book examines the industrial ecology of 200 years of ironmaking with renewable resources in the Salisbury district of northwestern Connecticut.

The Texture of Industry is an overview of the industrialization of North America using material evidence - sites, structures, and artifacts - to fill out the story of America's `industrial archaeology', drawing upon techniques from archeometry, field archaeology, art history, and architectural recording. The book is organized around a discussion of the industrial experience. Several sites and artifacts - ones that can be visited by the public - are studied in depth.

Experts agree that the earth will eventually run out of certain low-cost, nonrenewable resources, possibly as early as a century from now. Will the transition to reliance on other, more abundant resources be smooth or discontinuous? Might industrial societies experience a marked decline in living standards-a radically different kind of society from the one we now know? Geologists maintain that once inexpensive high-grade resources are exhausted, economic growth will slow. Economists are more optimistic: they believe that new technologies and materials will be substituted rapidly enough to prevent minor economic dislocations. Toward a New Iron Age? takes an important step toward reconciling these divergent views. It is the most comprehensive study of the economic consequences of resource depletion-in particular, it is a thorough exploration of the prospects for one key metal, copper. The authors draw on geological and engineering data to calculate the resources now available and to assess the feasibility of substituting alternatives. Using linear programming and a range of hypothetical base conditions, they are able to estimate the course, through the next century and beyond, of several crucial factors: the rate at which copper resources will be used and when they will be depleted; how the price of the metal will fluctuate; when alternative materials will be substituted, in what patterns, and at what costs. By the late twenty-first century, the authors believe, low-cost copper will no longer be available. Industrial societies will have to operate on more abundant resources such as iron, silica, and aluminum. They will enter, in short, a New Iron Age.

Winner of the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Award for General Engineering from the Association of American Publishers Originally published in 1996. By applying their abundant natural resources to ironmaking early in the eighteenth century, Americans soon made themselves felt in world markets. After the Revolution, ironmakers supplied the materials necessary to the building of American industry, pushing the fuel efficiency and productivity of their furnaces far ahead of their European rivals. In American Iron, 1607-1900, Robert B. Gordon draws on recent archaeological findings as well as archival research to present an ambitious, comprehensive survey of iron technology in America from the colonial period to the industry's demise at about the turn of the twentieth century. Closely examining the techniques-the "hows"-of ironmaking in its various forms, Gordon offers new interpretations of labor, innovation, and product quality in ironmaking, along with references to the industry's environmental consequences. He establishes the high level of skills required to ensure efficient and safe operation of furnaces and to improve the quality of iron product. By mastering founding, fining, puddling, or bloom smelting, ironworkers gained a degree of control over their lives not easily attained by others.

What follows in the pages ahead is the competitive advantage you have been searching for. Let's take a few things as assumptions. You already have a great product. Clearly, in today's competitive business environment, there is no substitute for excellence of product, executive leadership and staffing, as well as providing top-notch customer care. That's all the price of admission to the business ballpark. This book starts assuming those are in place. If they're not, put this book down and go back to the beginning. If they are, let's move forward. Consider this the new marketing of the 21st century. Every company wants to do the same thing. Build a good strong name, sell lots of goods or services and future proof the company. Future proofing your company means building a company name that allows you to immediately put a new product on the shelves and have people buy it because they trust the name. Nike has done their job well. They built the name with lots of great image ads, however very few actually focus on a specific shoe or product. While Nike has done it with big ad spending another shoe company has done it without the big media buys. Toms, the start up shoe company who basically took Asian workers soft shoes and put them on the feet of men and women in some of the most trendy and fashionable neighborhoods in America, selling them for $40 and up a pair. We hear this about Toms all the time: "I don't wear these shoes because they look beautiful or they are the best things for my feet. I wear them because I like what the company is about." Basically consumers feel good about the fact that they have a pair or Toms on their feet. Why? Because the shoes are a symbol of good social conscience and people are proud to display the symbol. Toms tiny ad campaign has been based on their corporate giving program- a pair of shoes to a kid who would otherwise not have shoes for every pair you buy. One for one. People will support your company if they really know you're doing the right thing. That's what a successful corporate image is about for the future. And the world is watching and talking about you if you do the right thing. That's the best advertising you can hope for. But guess what. The world is also watching if you do the wrong thing. And that news spreads just as fast or faster. This is the future of marketing, so embrace it and create a sustainable image, brand and company. The world is heading in this direction. Companies that do not follow along will be guilty of marketing malpractice.