From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity

From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity

by David Axe
From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity

From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity

by David Axe

eBook

$18.49  $24.50 Save 25% Current price is $18.49, Original price is $24.5. You Save 25%.

Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers

LEND ME® See Details

Overview

Logistics includes the planning and practice of moving "stuff"-raw materials, tools, finished products, and even people-from one place to another. It carried American settlers over the sparsely populated Great Plains to connect the East Coast to the West Coast and has underpinned our domestic prosperity ever since. Logistics also solidified the global power and influence of the United States by guaranteeing our ability to rapidly reinforce Europe in the world wars, by helping us win the Cold War, and by enabling the current U.S. military to fight two wars at once. Further, logistics undergirds the world economy as swelling populations vie for shrinking resources, including energy, water, arable land, food, and cheap labor. Natural disasters urgently increase such demand.



From A to B is the story of modern American logistics, which will continue to shape the nation's role in this century. The book begins with a U.S. Army transportation company in Iraq during the height of insurgent attacks on American supply networks. Then it tours the shipyards, railways, highways, airports, classrooms, corporate boardrooms, and laboratories that make up our complex and colorful transportation culture. With competition stiffening and our national transportation infrastructure crumbling, we must find ways to move resources and products even more efficiently if we are to thrive. From A to B presents this challenge.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781612341309
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.
Publication date: 11/30/2011
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 18 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author


David Axe is a military correspondent living in Columbia, South Carolina. Since 2005 he has reported from the U.K., Iraq, Lebanon, Japan, East Timor, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chad, Nicaragua, Kenya, Gabon, Congo and other countries. He is a regular contributor to Voice of America, AOL, Wired and many others. David is the author of the graphic novels WAR FIX and WAR IS BORING. He blogs at www.warisboring.com. David can be reached at david_axe-at-hotmail.com.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Part 1 1 "They're the Lifeline" 3

2 Secret Sauce 19

3 Backseat Driver 33

Part 2 4 Frankenstein's Automonster 47

5 Mixed Breed 63

6 Parsing Parcels 79

Part 3 7 The Greatest Lakes 91

8 Medical Care, Anywhere 107

9 The $3 Billion Maritime Operating Company, with Guns 121

Part 4 10 Big Blimpin' 139

11 Air Donkeys 149

12 UPS-in Space 171

Part 5 13 A Bowling Ball through a Soda Straw 191

Notes 213

Selected Bibliography 231

Index 233

About the Author 245

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews