The Box

On April 26, 1956, a crane lifted fifty-eight aluminum truck bodies aboard a refitted oil tanker in Newark,New Jersey. Five days later, the Ideal-X sailed into Houston, where fifty-eight trucks waited to haul the metal boxes to their destinations. This was the beginning of a revolution that made the boom in global trade possible. Before the container revolution, the high cost of moving goods was a major impediment to international trade. The container changed that, driving down transportation costs and in the process reshaping economic geography. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the seismic shifts it helped bring about -- shifts with far-reaching consequences for workers, communities, and the international economy.

The Box was shortlisted for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award, and was honored with a number of other awards and prizes. It was selected as one of the best business books of 2006 by Business Week, the Financial Times, and the Globe and Mail, and was cited as one of the best business books ever in the New York Times. It has been translated into several languages. Please click below for a link to the publisher's homepage or a page where The Box can be purchased in each country.