Add Prime to get Fast, Free delivery
Amazon prime logo
$24.36 with 30 percent savings
List Price: $34.95
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, January 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or Prime members get FREE delivery Wednesday, January 8. Order within 11 hrs 1 min.
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
$$24.36 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.36
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II (American Business, Politics, and Society) Paperback – November 16, 2018

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$24.36","priceAmount":24.36,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"24","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"36","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"eSPfzmo0rLmAlNqtvPHn9q6nOrs3WUxyEX2ugRKyMsEA4%2BPSJOWdKLhAwxny1yXDIPTDKkiiVCtovbT8VcCvlYaNECuLsNYKju0SjhmSk0mUGHwF4Nso17QeMpWf8ZZ6bwQpvp4FLAKYUS0lXhjtzw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

During World War II, the United States helped vanquish the Axis powers by converting its enormous economic capacities into military might. Producing nearly two-thirds of all the munitions used by Allied forces, American industry became what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called "the arsenal of democracy." Crucial in this effort were business leaders. Some of these captains of industry went to Washington to coordinate the mobilization, while others led their companies to churn out weapons. In this way, the private sector won the war—or so the story goes.

Based on new research in business and military archives,
Destructive Creation shows that the enormous mobilization effort relied not only on the capacities of private companies but also on massive public investment and robust government regulation. This public-private partnership involved plenty of government-business cooperation, but it also generated antagonism in the American business community that had lasting repercussions for American politics. Many business leaders, still engaged in political battles against the New Deal, regarded the wartime government as an overreaching regulator and a threatening rival. In response, they mounted an aggressive campaign that touted the achievements of for-profit firms while dismissing the value of public-sector contributions. This probusiness story about mobilization was a political success, not just during the war, but afterward, as it shaped reconversion policy and the transformation of the American military-industrial complex.

Offering a groundbreaking account of the inner workings of the "arsenal of democracy,"
Destructive Creation also suggests how the struggle to define its heroes and villains has continued to shape economic and political development to the present day.

The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

This item: Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II (American Business, Politics, and Society)
$24.36
Get it as soon as Saturday, Jan 11
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$22.98
Get it Jan 23 - 28
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Mesilla Internet.
+
$13.17
Get it as soon as Saturday, Jan 11
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Treatment
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Destructive Creation should be mandatory reading for historians of World War II, and for military historians in general. . . . Its compelling, well-substantiated arguments about the origins (and chronology) of American conservatism will be of interest to political historians. Scholars of business and/or technology, meanwhile, will have much to learn from Wilson's nuanced analysis of the unexpectedly fraught relationship between the public agencies and private firms that produced America's 'arsenal of democracy.' This is also a timely book, relevant to current debates about the privatization of military operations, security, and policing." ― American Historical Review

"A masterful history of the World War II mobilization effort. Deeply researched, this book synthesizes, military, business, and political history in a well-written account of a war that is often oversimplified. Wilson's account should inform future histories of World War II-and perhaps reignite debates over the relative merits of public versus private enterprise." ―
Journal of Military History

"It is an extraordinarily valuable and careful monograph that explains what works, and why we believe untrue stories about effective mobilization for war, and other crises." ―
Business History Review

"Mark R. Wilson has made an outstanding contribution to the historical debate about U.S. industrial mobilization in World War II.
Destructive Creation focuses on the substantial but largely ignored public sector contribution to the industrial war effort and argues that overemphasizing the role of the private sector and the relative neglect of the public sector in the historical literature has distorted our understanding of that wartime production miracle." ― Journal of American History

"
Destructive Creation is essential reading for economic historians interested in WWII and for learning the lessons of history most relevant to ongoing debates over the military-industrial complex of the twenty-first century." ― Journal of Economic History

"Wilson's book is hard hitting, but balanced, detailed without being pedantic, and eminently stimulating." ―
Defense Acquisition Research Journal

"
Destructive Creation is a probing account of the World War II mobilization effort that sheds new light on the sources of big business hostility to government regulation. As Mark Wilson demonstrates in absorbing detail, it was the very success of the wartime state that generated such a furious business backlash. This is revisionist history in the most provocative and illuminating sense." ― Nelson Lichtenstein, University of California, Santa Barbara

"An outstanding reinterpretation of the role of business in the war effort, this volume is a must read for anyone who wants to understand World War II and the world of private contractors that has come to define our modern military." ―
Meg Jacobs, author of Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America

"
Destructive Creation is a truly important, impressive, and extraordinary history of the mobilization of the United States' economy during the Second World War, with a number of fascinating implications for our understanding of the interactions between business, politics, and American society. Mark R. Wilson makes a compelling case for placing the relationship between the military and business at the center of how we think about modern American history." ― Jason Scott Smith, University of New Mexico

Book Description

Offering a groundbreaking account of the inner workings of the "arsenal of democracy," Destructive Creation suggests how the struggle to define its heroes and villains has continued to shape economic and political development to the present day.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Pennsylvania Press; Reprint edition (November 16, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812224310
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812224313
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Mark R. Wilson
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Mark R. Wilson is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research explores the history of U.S. war mobilizations, and the development of military-industrial relations, from the 19th century to the present day.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2021
    This is an exceedingly balanced study of the industrial mobilization in the U.S. during World War II. It neither extols nor demonizes the captains of industry, who often fought against government rules and ownership, but in the end, they produced the weapons of war that won the conflict. Yet government oversight was also necessary, and the military had to supplement American private industry to fully arm the nation. Any serious study of American national security must include a thorough examination of how the military acquires the weapons of war, and for World War II, this study is the benchmark.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2020
    This is an excellent book on the industrial mobilization of the US economy in World War II. It especially describes the sometimes tense relationships between private industrial companies and government regulators, the War Production Board (WPB), the Office of Price Administration (OPA), and program managers in the Army, Navy, and the Maritime Commission.

    The book also describes the immense involvement of the Federal government in the US industrial and manufacturing economy during the War. At the end of the war in 1945, the US government owned 20% of the entire industrial and manufacturing plant in the country. Some specific examples are:

    • Enriched uranium and plutonium processing : 100%;
    • Synthetic rubber: 97%;
    • Aircraft production: 89%;
    • Ships: 87%;
    • Non-ferrous metals (aluminum and magnesium): 58%;
    • Chemicals and explosives: 43%;
    • Aviation gasoline: 33%.

    These plants were divided into government owned / Contractor operated (GOCO) and government owned government operated (GOGO). The book describes the immense propaganda effort put forth by private companies and assorted politically conservative organizations to make it seem like the private companies were winning the production war when that was definitely not the case. Furthermore, the industrial facilities directly managed by the government (usually by the Army or the Navy) were very efficient in their productivity.

    Some other very good books on the US military – industrial economy during WW II are:

    • “A Call to Arms: Mobilizing America for World War II” by Klein (2013). This is an outstanding, thorough book on the way by which the US economy was mobilized for WW II. Most of the discussion is on the various federal government agencies and personalities that coordinated the effort. It's definitely a Big Government point of view. It describes the successes and failures, the efficiencies and mis-coordinations, the warts and the shining moments. It also describes the good and ill contributions of labor unions and big business.
    • “Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II” by Herman (2012). This is an excellent book describing the role of American business in the military-industrial production efforts of WW II. In my opinion, it is a bit over the top in its praise. Don't get me wrong -- I think the US industry was far and away the most efficient of all the countries involved in the war. All that effort was coordinated by (gasp!) the Federal government. The horde of companies and factories didn't coordinate and administer themselves and didn't set production priorities on their own.

    A good book on the various national wartime economies of all the powers is “The Economies of World War II” by Harrison (1998). It's on par with books by Tooze and Overy on this subject. And what's nice is that it compares the military industrial economies of all six major powers: USA, Great Britain, USSR, Germany, Japan, and Italy.

    Some very good books on other nations’ wartime economies are:

    Germany:

    • “The Wages of Destruction” by Tooze (2008). This is the ultimate book on the war economy of the Third Reich.
    • “Design for Total War” by Carroll (1968). This is an excellent discussion of the German military industrial and economy before and during World War II. The book gives a thorough explanation of the organizational chaos that permeated the entire war industrial effort. I thought that Chapter X "How Warlike a War Economy" and Chapter XIII " Total War: the Prophecy Fulfilled" were the most interesting. Chapter XI "Mobilization, 1939: A War of Each Against All" describing the dysfunctional military and civilian organizations for war industry and economy and their collective inability to establish priorities is also fascinating if not astounding.

    USSR:

    • “The Soviet Economy and the Red Army 1930 – 1945” by Dunn (1995). This is an excellent book on the subject. I have seen that the material contained in it is used / cited in many other books on the development of Soviet armored forces and associated military industry. You can get much of the information contained in this book regarding tank development, army organization, and military industrialization from the following books at much lower prices, even buying all of them: "Stalin's Keys to Victory" and "Hitler's Nemesis" both by the same author as this book (Walter Dunn). I found several chapters in this book quite fascinating and containing much original information: Chapter 3 "Logistics" describes the very different supply organization and system used by the Soviets; Chapter 7 "Artillery", Chapter 8 "Anti - Tank Guns", Chapter 9 "The Railroads", and Chapter 10 "Motor Transport" contained information and points of view I had never read before.
    • “Guns and Rubles: The Defense Industry in the Stalinist State” by Harrison (2008). This is a dry but interesting study of the development of the Soviet military industrial complex in the 1920s and 1930s. It describes the creation and evolution of the Ministries or Commissariats, main directorates, and the overall bureaucracy for managing the military industrial system. It also discusses the inefficiencies that were built into the system from the very beginning. It gives some idea of the frustrations that were experienced: for example, trying to build fairly complex monocoque metal airplanes with a labor force consisting largely of peasant workers two or three years removed from the fields, an inexperienced management trying to produce things with little or no control over its suppliers, and intense pressure from above to do the impossible with inadequate resources. The fascinating part of the story, I felt, was that the old Soviet Union started out from scratch and managed to create an arms industry in World War II that performed better than that of their German opponents. The nice thing about this book is that it is based on information obtained from Soviet archives opened for research in the 1980s and 1990s -- no ideological biases or semi - informed speculations here.
    • “Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defense Burden 1940 – 1945” by Harrison (1996). This is a dry but detailed book with much statistical data on Soviet war production and industrial productivity.

    Japan:

    • “Japan’s Economy in War and Reconstruction” by Cohen (1949). This is the ultimate book on the Japanese economy from about 1930 to 1948. It discusses every aspect of the economy: steel, shipping and shipbuilding, aircraft, oil, chemicals and munitions, electric power, coal mining, agriculture, textiles, labor, finance both in text and in tabular data form. The book also compares the performance of the Japanese economy to the economies of the US, Britain, and Germany in terms both in absolute numbers and in terms of labor efficiency. The Japanese came out a distant third no matter now you look at it. I think this is the primary source of information on the Japanese war economy as I have seen it referenced frequently in other books.

    • “Japan’s Economic Planning and Mobilization inn Wartime, 1930s – 1940s” by Miwa (2015). This is a fairly good book on the subject of Japanese economic mobilization before and during WW II but is marred by considerable text repetition (especially in Part I). There are, I believe, considerable issues with illogical statements and then purported conclusions. There is some discussion that the industrialization plans were almost all developed and administered by the Army. But the Army had almost no one who possessed any education or experience running factories or administering an economy at the national level. Civilians who had experience in running large factories and industrial businesses were not involved in developing these war industry mobilization plans or in administering them. Chapter 2 in Part I at least gives some hints of the totally superficial efforts in which the Japanese military engaged when attempting strategic military and economic planning. Page 118 contains the following statement: “…The Basic Outline of Operations stated that the Imperial Army, following the Basic National Defense Plan, must do its best to resolve disputes promptly through preemptive actions that involved Army-Navy cooperation.” This is a military – industrial operations Plan? This sort of thing is amateurish compared to what the US, Britain, USSR and even Germany developed for economic mobilization and for waging war.

    Britain:

    • “Britain’s War Machine” by Edgerton (2011). A little over the top in terms of presenting the idea that everything was wonderful about Britain's industrial effort regarding aircraft, tanks, ship building, and so forth. For a more balanced view on British tank design and manufacture (for example) see “Death by Design” by Peter Beale and “Blood, Sweat, and Arrogance” by Gordon Corrigan. None the less, it does present a good alternative to the traditional historical view that Germany was the ultimate technical and industrial leader in the war.
    26 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2023
    The book lays down the argument that the military - business relationships leading up to and durning World War II were tenuous at best. Very insightful for those interested in the topic of mobilization.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2021
    This is an excellent book for those interested in the industrial effort to win WWII. Others include War Lords of Washington by Bruce Catton, Arsenal of Democracy by Donald Nelson, The Arsenal of Democracy by A. J. Baime, Freedom's Forge by Arthur Herman (anti-union parts are inaccurate), Forging the Military-Industrial Complex by Gregory Hooks and Wedemyer Reports by General Wedemyer.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2022
    Hi was hoping this to be about the building if airplanes, ships, and tanks. It is not.
    This book covers all the government agencies and government actions used to create the factories that industry used.
    About the only interesting thing was how many military-factory workers were repeatedly laid off, due to all these overlapping bureaucracies constantly changing their priorities. Crazy levels of Red Tape.
    As a Veteran told me "from what I saw, the country that can afford the most waste, wins"
    No I still have to find a book on the manufacturing miracle of WW2. Any recommendations?
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2016
    Great read, very informative and well researched with great detail Dr. Wilson explores the creation of the military industrial complex
    5 people found this helpful
    Report