Forging America : ironworkers, adventurers, and the industrious revolution / John Bezís-Selfa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bezís-Selfa, John, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Iron industry and trade--United States--History--18th century.

Iron industry and trade.

United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.

United States.

Work ethic--United States--History.

Work ethic.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xi, 279 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 2004.

Summary:

"Forging America illuminates the fate of labor in an era when industry, manhood, and independence began to take on new and highly charged meanings. John Bezis-Selfa argues that the iron industry, with its early concentration of capital and labor, reveals the close links between industrial and political revolution. Through means ranging from religious exhortation to force, ironmasters encouraged or compelled workers - free, indentured, and enslaved - to adopt new work styles and standards of personal industry."--Jacket.

Contents:

Mastered by the furnace

Part 1: Iron and empire: the colonial era

Molding men

Passages through the ledgers

The best poor man's country

Part 2: Iron and nation: the early republic

Industrial slavery domesticated

Manufacturing free labor.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-267) and index.

Local Notes:

HSP credit line -- graphics from the Grubb Family Pa

ISBN:

0801439930

9780801439933

OCLC:

52418120