Torpedo

By Katherine C. Epstein,

Book cover of Torpedo: Inventing the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States and Great Britain

Book description

When President Eisenhower referred to the "military-industrial complex" in his 1961 Farewell Address, he summed up in a phrase the merger of government and industry that dominated the Cold War United States. In this bold reappraisal, Katherine Epstein uncovers the origins of the military-industrial complex in the decades preceding World…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked Torpedo as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Katherine Epstein unravels the tale of a single weapon system—the pre-World War I self-propelled torpedo—to reveal a remarkably informative and entertaining history of the interconnectedness of world politics, economics, law, industry, and military power. National leaders in the early 20th Century had to reach into all these spaces to develop effective, cheap torpedoes that could potentially upset rival naval powers resting on traditional, expensive, and vulnerable big gun ships. American and British leaders succeeded only by reshaping obsolete procurement processes into partnerships between public fund managers and private sector research and development, leading to attendant legal clashes between intellectual…

Want books like Torpedo?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Torpedo.

Browse books like Torpedo

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in construction, presidential biography, and World War 1?

Construction 42 books
World War 1 900 books