Aluminum in America: A History

by Quentin R. Skrabec Jr.

The history of aluminum: metallurgy, engineering, global business and politics--and the advance of civilization itself. The earth's most abundant metal, aluminum remained largely inaccessible until after the Industrial Revolution. A precious commodity in 1850s, it later became a strategic resource: while steel won World War I, aluminum won World War II.

A generation later, it would make space travel possible and the 1972 Pioneer spacecraft would carry a message from mankind to extraterrestrial life, engraved on an aluminum plate. Today aluminum, along with oil, is the natural resource driving geopolitics, and China has taken the lead in manufacture.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786499559
• ISBN13: 9780786499557
• Release Date: January 2017
• Publisher: McFarland & Company
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher