The world the box made -- Gridlock on the docks -- The trucker -- The system -- The battle for New York's port -- Union disunion -- Setting the standard -- Takeoff -- Vietnam -- Ports in a storm -- Boom and bust -- The bigness complex -- The shippers' revenge -- Just in time

In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade...