The Metalworkers: Robert Poole, His Ironworks, and Technology in 19th-Century America by Steven C. SwettJump to: Information for Reviewers | Information for Publishers | Upcoming Reviews

Books available for review in IA

(last updated 2 December 2024)

	Kahn, Matthew E. and Mac McComas, Unlocking the Potential of Post-Industrial Cities (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021). 153 pp., softcover.
	Montoya Mar, Francisco, Arqueología en la fábrica de dulces La Esperanza (Zacatecas, Mex.: Universidad Autonóma de Zacatecas, 2019). 193 pp., paperbound. [in Spanish]
	The 1722 Waggonway Heritage Group, The Work Journals of William Dickson, Wright at Cockenzie, 1717-1745 (Scottish Record Society and Tanner Ritchie, 2022), 320pp. ISBN 978-0902054738
	Christopher A. Whatley and Joanna Hambly (eds.), Salt: Scotland’s Newest Oldest Industry (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), 210 pp. ISBN 978-19-1090-0970.
	Chris How, Historic French Nails & Fittings, 2nd ed. (TATHS, 2022). 187 pp. ISBN: 978-09-4767-3284.
	Lee Riedinger, Al Ekkebus, Ray Smith, and William Bugg, Critical Connections: The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge from the Dawn of the Atomic Age to the Present (University of Tennessee Press, 2024). 488 pp. ISBN: 978-16-2190-6544.
	Michael L. Horowitz and James P. Holtje, Cathedrals of Industry: Exploring the Factories and Infrastructure that Made America (Abbeyville Press, 2024). 288 pp. ISBN: 978-07-8921-4980.
	John K. Brown, Spanning the Gilded Age : James Eads and the Great Steel Bridge (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024). 365pp. ISBN: 978-14-2144-8626

Upcoming Reviews

The following books have been distributed to reviewers and should appear in an issue of IA soon:

• Janet Dorothy Larkin, Overcoming Niagara: Canals, Commerce, and Tourism in the Niagara-Great Lakes Borderland Region, 1792–1837 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2018)
• Christina Ward, American Advertising Cookbooks: How Corporations Taught Us to Love Bananas, Spam, and Jell-O (Port Townsend, WA: Process Media, 2019).
• Joseph M. Siry, Air Conditioning in Modern American Architecture, 1890-1970 (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2021).
• JoAnne Yates and Craig N. Murphy, Engineering Rules: Global Standard Setting since 1880 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019).
• Swent, Eleanor Herz, One Shot for Gold: Developing a modern mine in Northern California (Reno and Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press, 2021).
• Chronicles of Mechanical Engineering in the United States, ed. by Thomas H. Fehring, P.E. and Terry S. Reynolds (ASME, 2021), 422 pp. print on demand (review copy is paperbound or e-book [PDF]).
• Cooke, Gilmore C., The Existential Joys of Fred Stark Pearson (1861-1915): Engineer, Entrepreneur, Envisioner (n.p.: the author, 2019)
• Franzen, John G., The Archaeology of the Logging Industry (Tallahassee: University Press of Florida, 2020). 240 pp., hardcover.
• Conlogue, Bill, Undermined in Coal Country: On the Measures in a Working Land (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017). 197 pp., hardcover.
• Howell, Jack, The Technical Traveler: World Travels for the Technically Inclined. (n.p.: the author, 2018). 180pp., paperbound.
• Lay, Maxwell Gordon, The Harnessing of Power: How 19th Century Transport Innovators Transformed the Way the World Operates (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018). 371 pp., hardcover.
• Christopher Fennell, The Archaeology of Craft and Industry (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2021), 167pp.
• Johnson, Bob, Mineral Rights: An Archaeology of the Fossil Economy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019). 231 pp.
• A combined review of
  • Koch, Peter Rutledge, et al., Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss (Berkeley, CA: The CODEX Foundation, 2020).
  • Fahlman, Betsy, et al., Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West (Munich: Hirmer; Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Art Museum, 2021).
• Jeff Rosenheim, et al., Bernd & Hilla Becher (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022), 281pp.
• Oliver Dinius, Brazil’s Steel City: Developmentalism, Strategic Power, and Industrial Relations in Volta Redonda, 1941-1964 (Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, 2010), 325 pp.
• Serig, Howard, Along the Railroad: A North American Rail Journey 1958-1978 (Vienna, Virginia: S&L Professional Services, 2016), 222 pp., hardcover, B&W photographs. ISBN 978-0-692-48684-9.
• Williams, Roy III and Alexander Lucas Lofton, Rice to Ruin: The Jonathan Lucas Family in South Carolina, 1783–1929 (Charleston: University of South Carolina Press, 2018). 427 pp., hardcover.
• Fehring, Thomas H. and Terry S. Reynolds (eds.) Chronicles of Mechanical Engineering in the United States. (New York: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2021). 425 pp., softcover, 250+ illustrations. ISBN 9798585356056.
• Friedman, Donald, The Structure of Skyscrapers in America, 1871–1900. Their History and Preservation. (Springfield, IL: Association for Preservation Technology Int’l., 2020). 450pp [PB], 539 illustrations. ISBN 978-0-9986347-1-5.
• Kavett, Joshua A., The History of Fisher & Norris Eagle Anvil Works 1843-2020 (Adelphia, New Jersey: FNFM Publishing, 2020). 376 pp., hardcover, color illustrations. ISBN: 978-1-09831-166-7.
• William Metzger, The Great Allegheny Passage companion: guide to history & heritage along the trail, 2nd ed. (Pittsburgh: Local History Co., 2021), 319pp.
• Useche, Óscar Iván, Founders of the Future: The Science and Industry of Spanish Modernization, (Rutgers U.P, 2022), 300pp. ISBN 978-1-684-48385-3.
• Black, Andrew R. Buried Dreams: The Hoosac Tunnel and the Demise of the Railroad Age (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2020), 240pp.
• Amy D. Finstein. Modern Mobility Aloft: Elevated Highways, Architecture, and Urban Change in Pre-Interstate America. Temple University Press, 2020. 304pp.
• Sarah Fayen Scarlett, Company Suburbs: Architecture, Power, and the Transformation of Michigan’s Mining Frontier (University of Tennessee Press, 2021).
• Howell, Jack, The Lost Cotton Gins of Central Texas. (n.p.: the author, 2011). 142pp., paperbound.
• Steven C. Swett, The Metalworkers: Robert Poole, His Ironworks, and Technology in 19th-Century America (Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Industry, 2022), 510 pp., ISBN 978-0578282503.
• Amber Patrick, The Buildings of the Malting Industry: The production of malt from prehistory to the 21st century (Liverpool: Liverpool Univ. Press for Historic England, 2023). 204pp. ISBN: 9781837644285 (HB).

Recently Published or coming in our next issue

• In IA 45, no 2 (2019):
  • Chris Evans and Louise Miskell, Swansea Copper: A Global History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020).
  • Sara B. Pritchard and Carl A. Zimring, Technology and the Environment in History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020).
  • Howell, Jack, Faded Texas Industries: A Photo Essay – 2nd Edition. (n.p.: the author, 2016).
  • Cooke, Gilmore C., The Story of the L Street Power Station 1898–2006 (n.p.: the author, 2020)
  • Snow, Bradley D., Living with Lead: An Environmental History of Idaho’s Coeur D’Alenes, 1885–2011 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017).
• In the next issue:
  • Anfinson, Scott F., Practical Heritage Management: Preserving a Tangible Past (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019). 514 pp., hardcover.
  • Polk, Michael R., and Christopher W. Merritt, Rails East to Ogden: Utah’s Transcontinental Railroad Story, Cultural Resources Series no. 29 (Salt Lake City: Bureau of Land Management, 2021). 321 pp. Note: this title is available only as an eBook; Table of contents:[PDF].

Information for Reviewers

Reviews are typically c.500 words. To offer to review a book, please email the editor with your interest and relevant qualifications to IA-bookreviews@siahq.org.

We also welcome short notices (<150 words) of recently published books on IA or IA-adjacent themes for the SIA Newsletter. Please email those to SIANeditor@siahq.org.

Information for Publishers

IA is interested in reviewing all books whose topic is or is adjacent to industrial archaeology in its broadest sense. We welcome academic, mass market, small press, and publications from local historical societies. Our receipt of a book does not guarantee a review and we have limited capacity to review books in languages other than English (please contact us if you have a concern). Unsolicited material will not be retuned, but we do endeavor to find a reviewer for all books received.

Books for review may be sent to:

SIA Headquarters, Department of Social Sciences
Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931-1295 USA.

For inquiries, contact us at 906•487•3272 or IA-bookreviews@siahq.org.