“A compulsively readable tribute to ‘the miracle of mass production.”
Freedom’s Forge reveals how two extraordinary American businessmen—General Motors automobile magnate William “Big Bill” Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser—helped corral, cajole, and inspire business leaders across the country to mobilize the “arsenal of democracy” that propelled the Allies to victory in World War II. Drafting top talent from companies like Chrysler, Republic Steel, Boeing, Lockheed, GE, and Frigidaire, Knudsen and Kaiser turned auto plants into aircraft factories and civilian assembly lines into fountains of munitions. In four short years they transformed America’s army from a hollow shell into a truly global force, laying the foundations for the country’s rise as an economic as well as military superpower. Freedom’s Forge vividly re-creates American industry’s finest hour, when the nation’s business elites put aside their pursuit of profits and set about saving the world.
“A compulsively readable tribute to ‘the miracle of mass production.”
Publisher’s Weekly
“Freedom’s Forge is the story of how the ingenuity and energy of the American private sector was turned loose to equip the finest military force on the face of the earth. In an era of gathering threats and shrinking defense budgets, it is a timely lesson told by one of the great historians of our time.”
Donald Rumsfeld
“Magnificent . . . It’s not often that a historian comes up with a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory in World War II, but Pulitzer finalist Herman . . . has done just that.”
Kirkus Reviews
“A rarely told industrial saga, rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry . . . Arthur Herman has set out to right an injustice: the loss, down history’s memory hole, of the epic achievements of American business in helping the United States and its allies win World War II.”
The New York Times Book Review
Preview: Arsenal of Democracy: Author Arthur Herman, “Freedom’s Forge,” comments on how hero industrialist Bill Knudsen transformed American private enterprise into the bounty of weapon systems and supply chains that defeated the Axis. More later in month.
Garrett Graff’s ‘The Devil Reached Toward the Sky’ and Iain MacGregor’s ‘The Hiroshima Men.’ After three decades of uneasy slumber... Read More
A revolution is underway in America’s defense industrial base. It isn’t just about integrating new technologies or making more weapons... Read More
The bad news is, 30 years after the end of the Cold War, our nation’s defense-industrial base is in serious... Read More
During World War II, the private sector rapidly mobilized to transform the U.S. into a wartime manufacturing powerhouse, certifying an... Read More
Arthur Herman, senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute, addresses the Civitas Institute’s second annual Austin Symposium on Economic Dynamism.
... Read More
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy could emulate the ‘dollar-a-year men,’ who built the greatest military production machine the world has... Read More
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Copyright Arthur Herman 2025.
From a New York Times bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist comes a bold reinterpretation of American history—just in time for the country’s 250th birthday.
