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Reading list

Reindustrialize the US

A practical sequence for learning how factories improve, how industrial systems scale, how modern supply chains work, and how capital gets allocated.

4Core phases
27Total items
1Bonus section

Phase 1

Operations & Optimization

Factory Physics

Wallace J. Hopp & Mark L. Spearman

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The Machine That Changed the World

James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos

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Sources of Increased Efficiency in the DuPont Rayon Plants

Charles E. Knoeppel

Older title. Often easier to find used or in reprint editions.

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Phase 2

Scaling & Industrial History

My Years with General Motors

Alfred P. Sloan

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Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World

Joshua B. Freeman

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The Deindustrialization of America

Barry Bluestone & Bennett Harrison

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The Reindustrialization of America

Ira C. Magaziner & Robert B. Reich

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Phase 3

Strategic Context & Modern Industry

Where's My Flying Car?

J. Storrs Hall

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Discovery-Driven Growth

Rita McGrath & Ian MacMillan

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Phase 4

Finance, Economics & Capital Allocation

Economics in One Lesson

Henry Hazlitt

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Investment Banking

Joshua Rosenbaum & Joshua Pearl

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Distressed Debt Analysis

Stephen G. Moyer

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Bonus

Bonus

Steelhead Job Shop Playbook

Steelhead Manufacturing (various editions)

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Ben Einstein's Blog

Hardware startups / manufacturing

Not an Amazon book. His writings are on his site here.

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Beyond books

Blogs, writers, and articles

These are some of the sources people serious about US reindustrialization tend to read. They fall into three useful buckets: practical operators, macro thinkers, and venture-backed industrial startup perspectives.

1

Practical builders

These focus on how to actually build factories, hardware startups, and manufacturing companies.

Ben Einstein

Hardware & Manufacturing

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Example article: Hardware by the Numbers

Extremely practical writing on manufacturing economics, hardware scaling, and supply chains from a former Bolt VC partner.

Focus

  • Manufacturing economics
  • Scaling hardware
  • Supply chains
  • Financing and production constraints

Recommended

  • Hardware by the Numbers
  • Hardware Product Management
  • Lessons from 10 Years of Hardware Startups

Dan Wang

Industrial tech essays

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Deep essays on supply chains, China versus US manufacturing, semiconductors, and industrial policy.

Recommended

  • How the semiconductor industry actually works
  • Why manufacturing still matters

Packy McCormick

Not Boring

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Strong coverage of modern industrial startups across defense tech, manufacturing software, and energy.

Focus

  • Modern industrial startups
  • Defense tech
  • Manufacturing software
  • Energy

Recommended

  • The American Dynamism thesis
  • Defense Tech Is Back

Matt Turck / FirstMark

Industrial tech

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Useful coverage of robotics, manufacturing software, and supply chain tech.

Focus

  • Robotics
  • Manufacturing software
  • Supply chain tech

2

Macro thinkers on reindustrialization

These explain why the US must reindustrialize.

Peter Zeihan

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Argues the US is entering a major industrial buildout driven by geopolitics and domestic energy advantages.

Focus

  • Shale energy advantage
  • Reshoring
  • Demographic collapse elsewhere

Recommended

  • The Greatest Reindustrialization in US History
  • The Supply Chain Realignment

American Compass

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Industrial policy think tank focused on rebuilding strategic capacity.

Focus

  • Tariffs
  • Strategic industries
  • Rebuilding supply chains

Recommended

  • Industrial Policy for the United States
  • The New Industrial Strategy

Noah Smith

Noahpinion

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Consistently useful essays on industrial policy, manufacturing productivity, and geopolitics.

Recommended

  • The return of industrial policy
  • Why manufacturing still matters

Ezra Klein / New York Times

Often covers the CHIPS Act, supply chain reshoring, and energy manufacturing from a mainstream policy lens.

Focus

  • CHIPS Act
  • Supply chain reshoring
  • Energy manufacturing

3

Venture and startup perspectives

These are investors and firms funding the new industrial wave.

American Dynamism

Andreessen Horowitz

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Focus

  • Defense tech
  • Robotics
  • Aerospace
  • Manufacturing

Eclipse Ventures

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Focus

  • Industrial tech
  • Supply chain software
  • Robotics

Lux Capital

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Focus

  • Hardtech
  • Manufacturing innovation
  • Materials science

4

Excellent standalone articles

A few specific essays worth reading.

American Reindustrialization: Massive Opportunities

Read

Argument

  • Reindustrialization will not recreate old factories in their old form.
  • It will rebuild the manufacturing stack with software-driven factories and smarter systems.

The Case for American Reindustrialization

Read

Argument

  • Rebuilding industry could revive communities.
  • It could also strengthen economic resilience.

US Industrial Renaissance

Read

Argument

  • Deglobalization and geopolitical competition are forcing major investment into domestic industry.

5

Niche blogs reindustrialists love

Less mainstream, but influential across supply chains, manufacturing economics, infrastructure, and industrial policy.

worksinprogress.corootsofprogress.orgconstructionphysics.substack.comtheprepared.orginterconnected.blogcharleshughsmith.substack.com

6

If you want the best single essay

Manufacturing is the Key to Prosperity

Eamonn Fingleton's thesis is one of the intellectual roots of modern reindustrialization thinking: advanced economies need capital-intensive manufacturing, not just services or finance.

Background on Eamonn Fingleton