The Shadow of the Mills: Working-Class Families in Pittsburgh, 1870-1907

by S.J. Kleinberg

Book Overview

The profound disruption of family relationships caused by industrialization found its most dramatic expression in the steel mills of Pittsburgh in the 1880s. The work day was twelve hours, and the work week was seven days - with every other Sunday for rest. In this major work, S. J. Kleinberg focuses on the private side of industrialization, on how the mills structured the everyday existence of the women, men, and children who lived in their shadows...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822954451
• ISBN13: 9780822954453
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Length: 440 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The best book about

I disagree completely with the opinion of "nuclearmse." Kleinberg's book is the best picture of the working class of Pittsburgh in a period of tremendous industrial growth. Kleinberg's research is exemplary, and it is original research--census records, death notices, archives of churches and numerous social service organizations-- not a rehash of secondary sources. The narrative is sometimes too scholarly and packed with statistics, but her descriptions of the terrible hardships the mill workers and their families had to endure are very often deeply moving. This book should be read by everyone interested in the lives of the working class in America.