Iron Will: Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847-2006 by Terry S. Reynolds, Virginia P. Dawson (review)

120 The Michigan Historical Review Terry S. Reynolds and Virginia P. Dawson. Iron Will: Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847-2006. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2011. Pp. 352. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Maps. Notes. Cloth, $44.95. Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc., is an active mining and naturalresources company in 2011, currently reinventing itself through multibillion-dollar global acquisitions while emphasizing the firm’s “core values.” The many twists and turns that shaped this corporate culture— a tale some 160 years in the making—receive detailed, if somewhat uneven treatment, in this substantial book. Terry S. Reynolds, a professor of history at Michigan Technological University, and Virginia P. Dawson, an independent business historian, together offer a good introduction that establishes contexts and broad themes. Cleveland-Cliff’s fortunes rested on five major elements: implementing wise management strategies, avoiding resource depletion, coping with cyclical economies, pursuing innovation, and managing labor relations. These are hardly startling goals, but they give Iron Will a useful focus and, the authors argue, gave the company a resilience that can be linked to these core corporate values. The firm, Reynolds and Dawson contend, focused on independence, avoiding takeovers by steel companies and overcoming difficulties through acquisitions, diversification, and retrenchment, as the times demanded. In the end, the key to the company’s success and longevity was retaining control of iron-ore deposits. Reynolds covers the firm’s rise (1846-1930); his densely annotated account emphasizes technological change and laborrelations issues at operations near Marquette, Michigan. After a shared “transitional” section (1930-1950), Dawson takes the story to 2006. Her more journalistic chapters, based mainly on corporate reports and media accounts, emphasize activities in Cleveland, Ohio. This book is a richly detailed history of Cleveland-Cliffs, with mines, mills, power plants, technological innovation, corporate paternalism and other labor relations, corporate partnering, and much more scrutinized in a larger-format book with a rather small font. A bit more space might have been devoted to the illustrations: most photographs are fine, but maps (e.g., pp. 15 and 52) and illustrations are small. A “bird’s eye” view of Ishpeming (p. 31) is quite aggravating: the caption cites points with numerals tiny enough to demand a magnifying glass! Otherwise, Iron Will is well structured. That being said, readers will find two quite different writing styles. Reynolds’s inclusion of so (perhaps too?) much detail and analysis is classically academic; in contrast, there are moments when Book Reviews 121 Dawson’s journalistic style minimizes analysis in favor of a chronological recitation of events. To be fair, Reynolds has the advantage of deeper hindsight, as modern history generally reveals trees more easily than forests. The tone of the book might raise eyebrows among corporate critics. Reynolds presents various perspectives on labor, the environment, and other issues, but there is a faint pro-Cliffs sentiment: for instance, while Reynolds touches upon labor troubles, his work hints at positive management-labor history. Strikes, harsh working conditions, and even a fairly regular pattern of releasing workers in favor of profits suggest otherwise. For her part, Dawson takes a rather upbeat view of corporate developments that occasionally flirts with cheerleading. Perhaps familiarity born of substantial research inevitably provides a positive “filter.” Reviewers, too, struggle with balance—how to critique large, complex books in a few words? How to challenge authors without leaving a “too negative” impression? What about small points that will not fit in a brief review? [E.g., Finnish miners as antiunion?] This reviewer does not have a ready answer. Notwithstanding the criticisms raised earlier, Iron Will deserves praise as an informative and interesting account of one of America’s major natural-resource firms. This is certainly a book that is worth reading, whether one is interested in Marquette and the surrounding area, natural-resource exploitation, corporate strategies, Cleveland’s business history, or simply a complex tale well told. Peter V. Krats University of Western Ontario James M. Schmidt. Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory. Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2010. Pp. 142. Notes. Photographs. Paper, $19.99. James Schmidt, a professional chemist who works in Texas, is an amateur historian with a strong interest in...