Managing the Mills uses the steel industry between the years 1892 and 1937 as a case study in employer motivation for opposition to organized labor. No American industry was more successful in its efforts to keep unions out of its facilities during this period, and no industry was more vocal about its reasons for doing so. The book reconstructs the management culture of this industry and shows how it interacted with the economics of steelmaking to shape particular labor policies like the twelve-hour day, welfare capitalism and the use of spies in the workplace.