Introduction -- Founding fathers and the GE brand -- Chief Engineer Rice -- The wizard and the wizard's assistant -- Technical men and GE culture -- Blue collar: craftsmen and operatives -- The G-E girl -- Life inside the great plant -- Schenectady -- Epilogue

The Americanization of Shell Oil -- Testing the waters -- Betting on technology -- The trials and triumphs of exploration -- The end of business as usual -- The offshore imperative -- Deepwater treasures in a new era of oil

Houston's working class and the origins of organized labor in the Bayou City -- How it all began : Houston, labor, oil, and working at Mr. Hughes's place -- Labor at Hughes Tool, 1929-1934 : hard times, Jim Crow, unions, and Uncle Sam -- Industrial democracy comes to the monarchy of Hughes...