Cathedrals of Industry: Exploring the Factories and Infrastructure That Made America

Explore America's industrial heritage in this breathtaking―and moving―photo book.

“This book . . . documents better than any economic historian could some of the enormous changes our economy and our society have been going through.”

―From the foreword by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize–winning economist

American culture and politics are shot through with nostalgia for the country’s industrial past, a time when we actually made things―physical things, not patterns of bits and bytes. But what did this past actually look like? Photographer Michael L. Horowitz has traveled throughout the Northeast in search of its remnants, both heritage businesses that have survived to the present and the ruins of decommissioned factories and infrastructure. The spaces he takes us inside range from the intimate to the vast―from the last silk flower workshop in New York’s Garment District to Buffalo’s looming grain elevators and the Paterson Great Falls Hydroelectric Plant, in operation since 1914. Horowitz photographs these places with the eye not only of a photographer but of someone who has taken the time to understand their inner workings―an understanding that is extended to the reader through Jim Holtje’s lively and carefully researched text.

Cathedrals of Industry will appeal to readers with a variety of interests, including history, architecture, engineering, and urban exploration.

Michael L. Horowitz, a New York-based pho­tographer, has dedicated himself to documenting cul­tural history in the face of rapid change. His books are Cathedrals of Industry: Exploring the Factories and Infrastructure That Made America and Divine New York: Inside the Historic Churches and Synagogues of Manhattan. His past ex­hibitions include Landmarks of the Church of St. Fran­cis of Assisi in Italy; Cathedrals of Industry, about the iconic twentieth-century industrial buildings of Buf­falo, New York; The Richardson Complex: Behind Closed Doors, on the Buffalo Psychiatric Center; and Revisiting L’Aquila (One Year after the Earthquake). Horowitz is the owner of A Photographer’s Place, a custom digital and fine art photo lab.

James P. Holtje is an author, speechwriter, and academic. He’s an award-winning adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and has published six books on business and public affairs, including The Power of Storytelling and Divided It Stands: Can the United Nations Work? Holtje previously served as speechwriter for the CEOs of IBM, Siemens, and McGraw-Hill. He currently heads Speak Up International, LLC, a speechwriting and de­livery coaching consultancy based in New York City.

Joseph E. Stiglitz is a professor of economics at Columbia University and the recipient of a John Bates Clark Medal and a Nobel Prize. He is also the former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. His books include The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society; People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent; and Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Age of Trump. He lives in New York City.

Stephen Wilkes is one of America’s most iconic photographers, widely rec­ognized for his fine art, editorial, and commercial work, including the Day to Night project. He is a National Geographic Explorer, a TED speaker, and the recipient of numerous awards and accolades.