Description
Book SynopsisA pioneering work in oral history, this book tells the story of the rise and fall of the industrial revolution and the apogee and crisis of the labor movement through an oral history of Terni, a steel town in Central Italy and the seat of the first large industrial enterprise in Italy. This story is told through a combination of stories, songs, myths and memories from over 200 voices of five generations, woven with a wealth of archival material.
Trade Review“Biography of an Industrial Town is an ironclad book that is essential reading for everyone interested in oral history, the politics of resistance, and the privileging of the testimonies of narrators.” (William Burns, The Oral History Review, Vol. 46 (2), 2019)
Table of ContentsPart I1. Introduction: Speaking, Writing and Remembering2. The Red and the Black: Rebels, Patriots and Outlaws3. How Green Was My Valley: Feudal Landlords and Struggling Peasants4. How Steel Was Forged: The Making of a Working Class5. Rebels: Socialists, Anarchists and the Subversive Tradition6. The Iron Heel, or, We Didn't Have Any Trouble: The Coming of Fascism7. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Surviving and Resisting Fascism8. Apocalypse Now: War, Hunger and Mass Destruction9. Red Is the Color: The Gramsci Brigade10. The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Economic Boom and Industrial Crisis11. Staying Alive: The Rise of Alternative CulturesPart II: Specialty Steel12. David and Goliath: The Town, the Factory and the Strike13. The Workers and the World: Terni Steel in the Age of Globalization14. The Empire Strikes Back: The Town, the Factory and the Strike: Reprise15. A Tale of Two Cities: Death, Survival and Powerlessness in the Neo-Liberal Age16. Epilogue: Working-Class Sublime.
