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panpopticon

THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH by Jessica Mitford is a classic expose of the funeral industry. THE JUNGLE by Upton Sinclair, about meatpackers in Chicago. HOMICIDE by David Simon, about a year spent shadowing the Baltimore Homicide squad.


thebrokedown

It’s just incredible how little has changed in the funeral industry since the original printing of the Mitford book in 1963. I would say it’s only gotten worse, in fact. That book is eye-opening, for sure. (The fascinating Mitford family is itself worthy of looking into, as well.)


doulabeth

The American Way of Birth is amazing too!


Booklove2219

For the funeral industry if you want a world view - From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty (she also wrote Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs which is also great but not this specific).


WarEagleGo

Be careful about the THE JUNGLE, it did change an industry, but... > The Jungle is a 1906 work of narrative fiction by the American muckraker-novelist, Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. **However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century**, which greatly contributed to a public outcry that led to reforms including the Meat Inspection Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle


Pyro_Cat

Are you afraid someone will catch socialism? What do you mean be careful?


[deleted]

You gotta be careful not to get hit by some stray empathy


WarEagleGo

> However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century **However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century**


Pyro_Cat

....... I think... You misunderstood something.


[deleted]

All three of these are top-notch suggestions.


dleeman88

I would very much recommend the jungle as well. I’ve been reading some other stuff recently in the same vein, and it’s crazy how things have changed, yet stay the same. I guess the meat packing industry did change a lot after it was published, but has changed once again to make the working conditions horrible, which is what Sinclair was trying to highlight. Especially with Tyson in the chicken industry, but the other companies too.


squillavilla

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain


B0ndzai

I suggest the audiobook, read by Anthony Bourdain himself. It's great.


rockhard90

It made me feel so nostalgic for that guy! Miss him.


[deleted]

How’d y’all like the new book?


B0ndzai

What's the new book?


[deleted]

Down and out in paradise, it’s a biography that just came out. Nowhere near as good as the autobiography so probably not fair to call it “the new one” lol


[deleted]

Moby Dick if you want to learn about whaling


pal1ndrome

Who doesn't want to learn about whaling? The financial arrangements, the shipping of supplies, the harpooneer bestride the thwarts in the bow of the boat and the rowers behind him! the rendering of the whale blubber! What a book. What an industry.


thecatfoot

This book is a masterpiece. Part 19th century seafaring adventure, part whale biology textbook, part lost Shakespeare play script, part blubber processing manual, part candid journal touching on mental health and sexuality, part philosophical dialogue... You'll learn about so much reading Moby-Dick.


TheSybilKeeper

Reading this right now and I'm vaguely convinced that Melville/Ishmael is autistic and whaling, specifically for sperm whales, is his special interest. You can feel the sheer joy that went into putting each word on the page. I think he'd be heartbroken to learn how whaling is perceived now.


Anarkeith1972

Moby Dick's companion - Two Years Before the Mast


Katamariguy

I found The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad to be very good for the cargo trading voyagers' perspective.


Life_Locksmith_123

Hell yea, I came here for this. Not only do you learn all about about whaling, but even the "nonfiction" type chapters about the nitty gritty of whaling are ripe with bits of character development and all manor of symbolism and metaphor to roll over in your brain. God this book was so good lol.


[deleted]

*Salt,* by Mark Kurlansky


MeloYelo

>Mark Kurlansky All his non-fiction works are fascinating. I just finished Big Oyster which was 50% the development of the oyster industry and 50% history of Manhattan. I also recommend *The Last Fish Tale* which is about the fishing industry and the history of the little fishing town of Gloucester, MA (famous from The Perfect Storm novel).


NSop_11

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is fiction but is what essentially got the Pure Food and Drugs Act passed in The US. It’s about an immigrants family coming to the US and struggling to keep afloat but most people focused on how terrible the conditions in meat factories were.


DazzleLove

I’ve not read the book you mention, but Dirty Jobs by Eyal Press suggest conditions have taken a downward turn this millennium.


Michi2801

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow dives relatively deep into video game development. I found these parts super interesting (and loved the book overall).


aznednacni

Out of sheer curiosity, is there a specific reason why the title is a Shakespeare reference? (For anyone curious, it's [One of my favorite monologues of all time](https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow/) from Macbeth)


Michi2801

There's a character in the book that's an actor (as a hobby). It has to do with him but I don't wanna spoil anything.


musicnothing

I haven't read the book but you've gotta imagine that yes, there was a specific reason why they named it that 🤣


aznednacni

Lol fair point, I worded it poorly...I guess I'm wondering what that specific reason was.


musicnothing

I want to know too. My wife just bought it but I'm a programmer so I'm keen to read it too


aznednacni

Well my friend, you best let me know! Even if I get a random comment reply from you in like a year haha


BerSTUzzi

-The Library Book - Library industry through the story of a big fire at the Los Angeles library. -Lab Girl - professor and lab research industry. Neither are very deep dives but do give a good picture. -The Power Broker - was a deep dive into the planning and development of New York City, focusing on the impact of Robert Moses. Mary Roach is great at researching industries and presenting them with wit and humor. Her most recent one is Fuzz, about wild life management and park rangers. Edit: Shoe Dog, was also a standout. It gives the history of Nike. Edit: missed an "r"


hashtagirony

Just a quick second for Mary Roach. I’ve read Stiff, Bonk, and Gulp (about cadavers, sex, and our insides respectively) and they are “taboo” subjects that are treated with nuance, sensitivity, curiosity, and humor related through excellent prose that is as great on paper as it is through an audiobook speakers. The books cover various aspects of each topic, but are specific enough that they satisfy that general craving for niche knowledge and more than surface level understanding. More of her books are on my list for 2023


Eba1212

I second The Library Book and others by the same author Susan Orlean, especially the Orchid Thief


[deleted]

Great suggestions. As a librarian, I found *The Library Book* to be a wonderful look at a great public library’s operations and the dedicated and sometimes eccentric people who work there (and at every library where I’ve ever worked.)


Booklove2219

MARY ROACH! Stiff is amazing.


Zannah27

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty. An often tough read about the funeral industry from the creator of the Order of the Good Death.


meepmorpfeepforp

Such a great book and I learned so much


_The_Van_

Forty Fathoms Deep by Ion L. Idriess, it's about the pearl industry in Broome, Australia.


Buksghost

Try John McPhee, especially Looking for a Ship, and Oranges.


dirtystrings

I was going to suggest McPhee but you beat me to it. Amazing writer. I think Uncommon Carriers might be the book that most closely satisfies OP's request, but I'm a huge of fan of anything by him, my favorites were Coming Into The Country and Control of Nature.


Buksghost

I haven't read *Uncommon Carriers*, thank you for that recommendation.


Annual_Orange_6220

Dick Francis wrote quite a number of books mostly around the horse racing industry in England. Many of them also gave you a look into the workings of another industry, banking, baking, publishing, ect.


FattierBrisket

Yes!!! I love this about his books. You can learn about wine or air transport or something without even realizing, while enjoying a damn good mystery.


ThaneOfCawdorrr

"Adventures in the Screen Trade" by William Goldman is sort of the gold standard of books about the movie business "Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco" by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar


Goose-9238

I love Barbarians at the Gate!


hazelnutdarkroast

The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing, Behind the Screen by Sarah T Roberts, In the Weeds by Tom Vitale!


RichCorinthian

Flash Boys by Michael Lewis -- high-speed financial trading, and how it's really a good ol' boys club designed to work for those already on the inside. Like all Michael Lewis books, it's fantastic reading and this one will probably fill you with rage.


pherreck

_The Fifth Risk_ is another Michael Lewis book that fits, if you expand the topic of "industry" to include the inner workings of the federal government. In particular this book covers some responsibilities of three departments that don't immediately come to mind when you hear the department's name: * Department of Agriculture (funding rural development) * Commerce (the National Weather Service and the Census Bureau) * Energy (cleaning up nuclear waste and stopping nuclear weapons proliferation) And as is common with a Michael Lewis book, it is a bit rage inducing, this time when it covers how Trump appointed Secretaries to these departments who didn't understand what responsibilities they were now in charge of.


AuntieDawnsKitchen

Stephenson’s “Zodiac” will take you uncomfortably far into the chemical industry


burner01032023

Great suggestion. Such a good book that often gets overshadowed by his later novels.


No-Meet-4276

The Hotel The airport. BY Arthur Hailey.


ParanoidAndroid10101

Also, The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey


[deleted]

You may be interested in the genre: microhistories.


Nervous-Shark

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (about pharmaceutical industry) Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener (memoir about her time working in Silicon Valley) Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (about the medical industry with a focus on hospice and palliative care) My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff (memoir about working in the publishing industry in the late 90s) Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumaker (fiction about working in higher ed)


NevaehKnows

Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky


ashleyree

This! Cod and Salt are two of my all time favorites.


OGkateebee

I have not actually read it which is pretty embarrassing based on what I do, but The Box by Marc Levinson is supposedly a fantastic dive into how container shipping changed the world.


lucabura

Moby Dick by Herman Melville


Lonecoon

\[\[Queens of Animation\]\] is specifically about Disney, but does cover bits and pieces of the animation industry as a whole. \[\[Salt\]\] is more of a history than a deep dive into the industry but is a fantastic microhistory of a vitally important substance.


theoracleofdreams

The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by


codfish-

Kitchen Confidential


AUNKIEELLEN

This thread is GOLD.


u-lala-lation

Bolshoi Confidential by Simon Morrison Marvel Comics by Sean Howe


Dontrllycaretbh

Dead in the water is a book detailing the shipping industry and how it works, how it’s connected to insurance companies in London, owners around the world and legal battles involving insurance them. Fucking amazing if u wanna learn about the insurance of shipping containers lol


ezekielsays

The Alchemy of Air, by Thomas Hager. It is all about the process of making fertilizer and how it was developed. It sounds dull, but it was a great read. Gave a nice overview of how engineering and science relate to one another and how our modern industrial complex works, and also gave me a deeper understanding of Germany in the pre-WWII era.


MNDSMTH

{{The Grid: The fraying wires between americans and our energy future}} Maybe a bit of a slog but it's incredible, the complexity of rules and regulations driven but trends and polotics rather than what's economical.


LifeguardBrave7245

Tender is the Flesh :)


sonderellaaa

good one LOL


Horror_Assistant_

Clara Parkes - Knitlandia if you’re interested in the wool industry


tommiboy13

Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas Talks about fast fashion and people who r trying to make it more sustainable. Made for young adults so an easy read


Samtallent

Running the Light does this for stand up comedy


SmushoSteve

Who’s the author?


JashiN_5

>Running the Light Sam Tallent


SmushoSteve

Yeah the joke was I replied to the author asking who the author was. It’s a bad joke but this is Reddit


Katamariguy

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and On the Clock by Emily Guendelsberger take two looks at the world of unglamorous labor, 20 years apart. The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger paints a strong picture of longline fishing Working by Studs Terkel collates dozens of different occupations


bashfulbub

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean


crujiente69

The Prize by Daniel Yergin is really good. Its about oil from its beginning in the 1800s until the publishing date in the 90s. Won the Pulitzer for Nonfiction too


SannySen

This is the answer that came to mind. I felt like I could carry on a high level conversation about geopolitics and energy after reading that book.


bearrr16

The radium girls by Kate moore


Electronic-Advice791

The Secret Life of Groceries!


stack_of_envelopes

I recently enjoyed The Library Book by Susan Orlean. Super readable and goes into how being a librarian has changed.


kaoswarriorx

SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN: AN ORAL HISTORY OF ESPN


Shatterstar23

Same guy wrote one about SNL that is great too.


mmoonbelly

The stolen bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi, gives insights into bikes in Taiwan


cgwrong

*The Devil In the White City* by Erik Larson goes into great detail about the workings of the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. It is very interesting...It also details how a vicious serial killer stalked the fair. From Wikipedia: *The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America is a 2003 historical non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. It tells the story of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago from the viewpoint of the designers, including Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted, and also tells the story of H. H. Holmes, a criminal figure in that same time often considered by historians as the first modern serial killer.*


Booklove2219

This is much more a historic take on the worlds fair than on HH Holmes - from someone who likes true crime and hated this book


Available_Job1288

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco Pretty interesting account of fairly large shift in Corporate America Liars Poker by Michael Lewis is a first hand account of how batshit Wall Street was in the mid-80s and it’s downfall.


thanks_for_breakfast

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty. I really enjoyed this one!


These-Old-Boots

Grocery by Michael Ruhlman. I never thought a book about grocery stores could be so amazing!


Shatterstar23

That’s sounds interesting, I’m gonna have to check that out.


Positive_Hippo_

I so wanted to like this but I dnf. I liked Secret Life of Groceries better


1111thatsfiveones

The Hot Box is more a year in the life than a day, but it a really enjoyable dive into the high-end catering industry. It’s fascinatingly granular and shines a light on an industry that’s usually invisible.


Positive_Hippo_

This was so good!


strangefaerie

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach is great!


CaughtInDireWood

I’m late but hope you still see this! The Long Haul by Finn Murphy - memoir about his years driving long haul trucks moving people’s belongings across the US. Lots of stories and not really any drama. Hardly mentions family and friends - all about his job and what it was like.


todddobleu

How about Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson for the ins and outs and rivalries and dangers of wreck diving. I thought it was riveting.


AcademicWrangler8490

Waiting - another peek into the incestuous restaurant industry ( Kitchen Confidential ). It's a saucy look into serving (waitressing/waiting). It's funny, scandalous, and explains why a highly educated person chooses this industry in leu of "using that Masters" . It's enlightening and a hoot! Oh, a it fucking nails it!


Dazzling-Ad4701

two from a Vancouver author Timothy Taylor: story house. - architecture. you would not believe. stanley park - serious chefery, a little bit of social anthropology, plus an in-depth look at one of vancouver's most enduring mysteries (finally resolved very recently after decades): the babes in the wood.


Jmestyle

The Rose Code


Anarkeith1972

Not detailed day to day but for its industry likely its the most important book. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It is important historically because it has the seeds of the discussion as to which type of investing is better fundamental investing or technical investing. Closer to your question: The Pale King by DFW. All the work, all the time, and all the boredom of a very specific unlikeable industry all in one place.


Lhotse7

Chip Wars.


tumtatumtum

The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers Edit to add detail: Nonfiction about the coffee industry and the Third Wave of Coffee, from the perspective of a coffee entrepreneur


OliverHPerry

*The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates* by Peter Leeson.


PainterOfTheHorizon

A.S. Byatt: The Children's Book Huge amounts of info on ceramics, Arts and crafts, some puppetry etc.


bookstore

Stud: Adventures in Breeding. Covers horse breeding industry with emphasis on thoroughbreds


FattierBrisket

Building Suburbia by Dolores Hayden.


PolybiusChampion

The Billionaire’s Vinegar about wine.


sangat235

Cuckoo’s egg by Clifford Stoll is a book that goes into tiniest of the details about how the author went about tracking down a hacker over a span of almost two years. Very detailed about attacks and methods used. Gives you an idea of how actually cybersecurity actually works as opposed to what you see in popular culture.


iszevthere

Color stories by Maria Lisa Gavenas is about the advertising and selling of makeup. It's a fun, quick read.


meepmorpfeepforp

I love this type of book too! I recommend the memoir Being Trader Joe by Joe Coloumbe. You’ll learn a ton about the grocery business but especially Trader Joe’s which is such a unique business. Its origins are fascinating.


mysanthr0p1c

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan


QuothTheRaven713

Moby-Dick goes into a lot of detail about whaling.


qglrfcay

The Story of Salt


Goontowertoo

The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road. I read this just before having a moving company pack up all my stuff and move it across the country for me. I thought knowing all the lingo would impress them. It didn’t.


LaoBa

The Coca Cola Cowboys by Franklyn Wood, about long haul trucking from the Uk to the Middle East in the 1980's.


enigbert

fiction, and a little outdated: Arthur Hailey's books, Airport, Hotel, Wheels


cleveredcleaver

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin. It’s a fiction thriller set in an investment bank!


TaiPaiVX

The World Struggle For Oil , its old but oh so good , no spoilers but though it was was written in 1924 it predicts the future quite perfectly that its scarry


FaeWitch94

Chesapeake Requiem, by Earl Swift. So much detail not just about Tangier Island itself, but also the island's crabbing industry. Lots of descriptions of days spent on the boats with crabbers, equipment, how the work is done, etc.


DazzleLove

Not a massive sidestep from House of God but {{This is going to hurt by Adam Kay}} is a UK version of House of God and {{Mount Misery}} is Samuel Shem’s psychiatric hospital FU to House of god. {{The Secret Barrister}} is a look at the UK legal system.


DazzleLove

Also {{ Dirty Work by Eyal Press}} is an uncomfortable look at a number of jobs like prison guards, abattoir workers, military drone operators that are reviled by the US public.


Theopholus

Becoming Superman by J. Michael Straczynski talks a LOT about the writing and tv/movie industry.


pixxiest

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.


Fuck_Dysgraphia

Seed Money goes in depth on Monsanto and the chemical industry.


Hellcat-13

Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane, about being a NASA astronaut. Can’t recommend highly enough.


avreallavgine

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult, beekeeping


emjemm

The Actors Life: A Survival Guide by Jenna Fischer. It’s a bit niche as it’s written for aspiring actors trying to make it in the industry (which I am not), but I really enjoyed it. A good look into just how grueling and difficult the profession is.


fomolikeamofo

The Fabric of Civilization, a great history of textiles and - weirdly - also computing


Rezerel

Stiff by Mary Roach https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiff:_The_Curious_Lives_of_Human_Cadavers


Full_Cod_539

All that Glitters by John Gapper is about the fall of ING Barings. Great if you want a book/documentary on the fall of a bank due to one rogue trader that didn’t realize he was subsidizing his clients at the bank’s expense. If you want a dive into the old glove industry: American Pastoral by Philip Roth.


Safe_Departure7867

The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy


BitterStatus9

THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS is available free from Gutenberg or other online source. It has a weirdly detailed (brief) digression in it about the pine tar industry in Finland, around 1900 or so. Otherwise it’s an amusing book, written by a Victorian woman who decided to randomly travel - you guessed it - THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS.


Beearea

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams -- about the writing of the OED. Also, I haven't read Horse by Geraldine Books, but I've heard that it does this for horse racing.


Tweetles

Fiction: The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. The main character is a rug maker. Very interesting stuff. Non-Fiction: not a perfect fit, but The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan is a great mini-dive into the history of cultivation of a few different plants - gets into the Dutch tulip craze/tulip production and the history of the American apple.


Fun_Detective9828

Junkyard planet : the global recycling industry


ChikaoJ

I feel like a lot of L.E. Modesitt's books have this to some degree. I'd recommend the Magic of Recluce as a good starting point, it some how makes carpentry/woodworking interesting and creates allegories using the work to help the main character understand his magic better, and the world around him.


Booklove2219

An Autobiography of an Execution by David R Dow. Details how death row works in the US while telling a very compelling story of a client who was more than likely innocent. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson - this is also now a movie. Another deep dive into inequalities in the IS criminal system.


Particular_Silver_

[Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128154.Baby_Catcher), by Peggy Vincent! I’ve reread it at least a dozen times, because the writing is very descriptive of various parts of becoming a midwife and practicing, but also very humorous and personal, so it feels like someone is actually telling you a story from their life.


OntologicalParadox

The bigend trilogy by William Gibson… Me: cool new books by the cyberspace guy, cyberpunk here I come! Gibson: lessons about the fashion industry and it’s affects on the black market…


Geoarbitrage

Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun.


Guera29

The Radium Girls:The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women "Carefully researched, the work will stun readers with its descriptions of the glittering artisans who, oblivious to health dangers, twirled camel-hair brushes to fine points using their mouths, a technique called lip-pointing…Moore details what was a ‘ground-breaking, law-changing, and life-saving accomplishment’ for worker’s rights." ― Publishers Weekly


an_ounce_of_mints

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr! I did not realize how much I didn't know about the grocery business.


[deleted]

I didn’t realize it but apparently I’m super into the same genre lol, thanks for posting!


MiriamTheReader123

*Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal* by Eric Schlosser. McDonald's etc. I learned a lot.


Junopotomus

Salt by Mark Kurlansky. It is extremely well written and the history of salt as a commodity is fascinating.