Industry and Humanity is not only a history of King's career as industrial relations expert and consultant for the Canadian government and several giant American corporations. It also contains illustrations and analogies from his urban industrial and educational experiences.

William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950) was three times Prime Minister of Canada. After studying at the Universities of Toronto, Chicago, and Harvard, he entered the newly formed federal department of labour in 1900, where he edited the Labour Gazette and earned a high reputation as a conciliator in labour disputes. In 1909 he was appointed minister of labour in the Laurier Government.