In Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century, Stephen Fenichell takes a fresh, irreverent look at the substance we all
159 8 23MB
English Pages 368 [369]
Table of contents :
Acknowledgments
1 Plasticland
2 Protoplastic
3 Celluloid Heroes
4 The Bakelite Brigade
5 Cellophane
6 Nylon
7 The Vinyl Solution
8 Plast-O-Rama
9 Pop Plastic
10 The Seat of the Plague
11 Sympathy for the Devil
Index
MA KING OF A SYNTHE TIC CENT URY THE
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STEPHEN FEN I CHELL
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THE MAKING OF A . SYNTHETIC CENTURY
Stephen Fenichell
HarperBusiness A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers
Copyright © 1996 by Stephen Fenichell. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 5 3rd Street, New York, NY 10022. PLASTIC.
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D esigned by Alma Hochhauser Orenstein Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fenichell, Stephen. Plastic: the making of a synthetic century I Stephen Fenichell. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-88730-732-9 1. Plastics-History. I. Title TP1116.F46 1996 668.4-dc20 96-364 9 6 9 7 9 8 9 9 0 0 •:• /H C 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For CAROL
and LOISA
"I just want to say one word to you, Ben. Just one word." THE GRADUATE
(1967)
Contents Acknowledgments
1 Plasticland
•
XI
1
2 Proto p lastic
11
3 Celluloid Heroes
37
4 The Bakelite Brigade 5 Cellophane
79 105
6 Nylon
133
7 The Vinyl Solution
175
8 Plast-0-Rama
225
9 Pop Plastic
271
10 The Seat of the Plague
303
11 Sympathy for the Devil
327
Index
349
Acl