Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II by Arthur Herman

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The Economist

“A rambunctious book that is itself alive with the animal spirits of the marketplace.” — The Wall Street Journal

Freedom’s Forge tells the extraordinary true story of how two American industrial titans—William “Big Bill” Knudsen of General Motors and Henry J. Kaiser the shipbuilder—transformed the U.S. economy into the “arsenal of democracy” that won World War II.

Drafting top talent from companies like Chrysler, Boeing, Lockheed, GE, and Frigidaire, Knudsen and Kaiser led a massive mobilization effort that turned auto plants into aircraft factories and consumer assembly lines into centers of war production. In just four years, they built the military machine that propelled the Allies to victory—and laid the groundwork for America’s rise as a global economic superpower.

Arthur Herman vividly captures this industrial saga of innovation, sacrifice, and triumph, when business leaders put aside profit to save the world. With meticulous research and riveting storytelling, he brings to life an era when American ingenuity proved unstoppable.

Praise for Freedom’s Forge

• “A rarely told industrial saga… rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry.” — The New York Times Book Review
• “Magnificent… a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
• “A compulsively readable tribute to the miracle of mass production.” — Publishers Weekly
• “Astounding production statistics.” — The Economist
• “A fantastic book.” — Forbes
• “A timely lesson told by one of the great historians of our time.” — Donald Rumsfeld