The Shipping Container: How Malcom McLean's Metal Box Created the Modern World

Before 1956, loading a ship could take weeks and cost more than the ocean voyage itself. Then trucking magnate Malcom McLean welded doors onto a few dozen steel boxes and accidentally invented the most important object in global commerce. This is the story of how a simple metal rectangle reshaped world economics, destroyed entire industries, created new ones, and made your smartphone possible.