Behemoth

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

By: Joshua B. Freeman

Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby

Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

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 exploitation and class warfare they engendered, not to mention the environmental devastation caused by factory production from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution up to today.

In a major work of scholarship that is also wonderfully accessible, celebrated historian Joshua B. Freeman tells the story of the factory and examines how it has reflected both our dreams and our nightmares of industrialization and social change. He whisks listeners from the textile mills in England that powered the Industrial Revolution and the factory towns of New England to the colossal steel and car plants of 20th-century America, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union and on to today's behemoths making sneakers, toys, and cellphones in China and Vietnam.

The giant factory, Freeman shows, led a revolution that transformed human life and the environment. He traces arguments about factories and social progress through such critics and champions as Marx and Engels, Charles Dickens, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Ford, and Joseph Stalin. He chronicles protests against standard industry practices from unions and workers' rights groups that led to shortened workdays, child labor laws, protection for organized labor, and much more.

In Behemoth, Freeman also explores how factories became objects of great wonder that both inspired and horrified artists and writers in their time. He examines representations of factories in the work of Charles Sheeler, Margaret Bourke-White, Charlie Chaplin, Diego Rivera, and Edward Burtynsky.

Behemoth tells the grand story of global industry from the Industrial Revolution to the present. It is a magisterial work on factories and the people whose labor made them run. And it offers a piercing perspective on how factories have shaped our societies and the challenges we face now.

©2018 Joshua B. Freeman (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Fantastic Book!

This is a wonderful book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The previous reviews regarding the narration are completely unfounded, I found the narration to be excellent. Definitely worth the listen I highly recommend.

Very informative and interesting history

This book explains the authors view on the transition from the production of goods by individual "craftsman" to large manufacturing in singular plants staffed by hundreds to many thousands of workers, each performing a singular, and often repetitive, function. He presents evidence of the social, economic and political drivers that fueled the rise through the last several centuries as it begins in Europe, spreads to the Americas, gets adopted/adapted by the Soviets and then is magnified in current day China. As is wont to happen, a neutral system that can achieve so much good for society, is taken over by the greedy and power hungry. Large manufacturing has enabled societies to advance from the uncertainties of hand-to-mouth existence. It also, in its perversion by many (unfortunately), has wrought environmental destruction and brought the subjugation of whole classes of people. This is nothing new in human history. This subjugation has typically landed on the poor and helpless of all races, both sexes and tragically, children (still in Asia, even as i write this review). Now, to paint another picture, I believe that manufacturing is a critical infrastructure and a necessary tool for bringing societies out of poverty and squalor. It is a hope for the bottom billion (another great book!), the middle and the upper crust. It is a neutral "technology" and can be performed in a manner that provides a material positive impact on society and the environment. I would understand the author to hold this same view, and this audiobook was very instructive to me. Kudos.

I will close with a note about the narrator and his accents. I am typically distracted by purposeful accents and so i selected this audiobook with trepidation based upon the many reviews castigating the narrator for his interpretation of Marx's accent (for example). In my opinion, the value of this book's content was worth the mild distraction. Yet, i actually want to commend the narrator because the author uses many actual quotes of historical actors to support his hypothesis. The accents serve to delineate the firsthand "testimony" from the author's thoughts. They are akin to audio footnotes. I value that practice because it gives me the opportunity to think critically and develop my own conclusions. I learned much and thank the author AND narrator.

Long but good

What else do you want to know? Covers Russian an Chinese help to industrialize with American corporate help.

Excellent Read

Comprehensive, engaging and informative overview of gigantic manufacturing operations and their societal impact—not only upon the people who toil in them and the surrounding communities affected, but on the consumers detached from many of the costs of these “behemoths” who enjoy the benefits of their production.

My only criticism is the reader’s use of accents in dialogue within the prose. Not really necessary, and not very good. But everything else about his reading is fantastic!

I’ll be thinking about the ramifications of this book for some time to come, and will never look at my I-phone in quite the same way.

What a gem for history fans

A history of the factory? Giant factories? Sounds boring, right? I was pleasantly surprised. From the industrial revolution to Foxconn, this history covers the social as well as the economic effects of the development of large-scale manufacturing factories that lead to modernity. A great read/listen.

love it

so good! a fascinating history of the factory across time and space, and a thoughtful exploration of what it means to change the world

Somewhat Misleading Title

This book gives a very broad overview of the history of the factory. It’s a basic overview, not for someone looking for in-depth knowledge.

Addendum

I stopped everything I was doing and ran up here to add this to my other review, but I don't think it was published yet. But this can't wait.

The single STUPIDEST and WORST audio book in the HISTORY of audio books. Aside from execrable accent like a Canadian three-year-old trying to imitate the queen (self-consciously dropping the letter R, rather than using an English R) no matter what the class or background of the English person being quoted - he just did Karl Marx in....drum roll, please....a RUSSIAN accent. hahahahahahahahahaha

I cannot conceive how the publisher allowed this narration to be used. The book is great. The audio version is so excruciatingly horrific that it's almost comical. It would be, if I didn't really want to hear the content. But...Karl Marx with a Russian accent? My God!

Eye opener to how complex an issue this is.

The topic is epic. I take away a very welcome overall outline of the matter at hand, of the change from a 8 person workshop to a thousand plus worker factory.
This could easily have been ten times longer.
I didn’t enjoy the reader trying to mimic accents in parts of dialogue- it was simply distracting.
Very happy I heard this. Thank you.

A Good book badly performed

This is a fascinating subject and well written too but the narrator goes off the deep end with British, French and German accents that he doesn’t imitate well at all. Drove me crazy. Have to get the hardcover instead!