In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that devastated waterfront communities, reshaped manufacturing, destroyed centuries-old ports, and created massive new ports where there were none before. The Box tells the dramatic story of how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur. Malcom McLean, turned containerization from an impractical idea into a phenomenon that slashed transportation costs and made the boom in global trade possible. Book jacket.