Description
Book SynopsisWives of Steel is based on more than 80 interviews with women and some men, all of whom were part of Sparrows Point as workers, spouses, or longtime residents of the local communities and tells a story that continues to be played out in communities across America as working-class families are forced to cope with a globalizing economy.
Trade Review“Wives of Steel addresses a key failure of most studies of industrial communities. Too often scholars assume that male-dominated industries and their communities are shaped by men who hold the industrial jobs. By placing women at the forefront of the Sparrows Point story, Olson shows how women experienced deindustrialization differently than men. Forced to join the workforce to help families survive the loss of well-paying union jobs, many women discovered the rewards of increased independence and autonomy. The result is a more complicated, and more persuasive, picture of America’s postindustrial communities. Wives of Steel will find an eager audience among labor, women’s, community studies scholars; students; and the general public.”
—Laurie Mercier,Washington State University, Vancouver
“Wives of Steel makes a compelling and sure-to-be-noticed contribution to a very rich and lively literature on the community experience of deindustrialization. Employing rich ethnographic and interview data, Olson demonstrates forcefully the need for a more gendered appreciation of the impact of large-scale economic transformation.”
—Michael Frisch,SUNY–Buffalo
“Olson examines, within the context of a manufacturing community, the profound social changes brought about by economic upheaval. After reading her book, you’ll never hear news about downsizing and lay-offs as simply an economic abstraction.”
—John Lewis Baltimore Magazine
“In all, Olson’s study is an informative, rigorous, and interesting exploration of a complex workplace community over time.”
—Linda Grant Niemann Technology and Culture
“[Olson’s] findings are an important contribution to debates about the postindustrial economy.”
—Ellen Baker Journal of American History
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction
1. Sparrows Point, Turners Station, and Dundalk: The History of the Mill’s Communities
2. The Gendered World of Steel: It’s a Man’s World Inside the Sparrows Point Mill
3. Boarders and the Long Turn in a Company Town: Sparrows Point Wives, 1887–1945
4. The Family Works the Schedule: Steelworkers’ Wives, 1945–1970
5. Women Steelworkers at the Point: Interlopers in a Man’s World
6. Deindustrialization at Sparrows Point: Disappearance of the Breadwinner-Homemaker
7. Renegotiating Families with Two Breadwinners: Partnership and Divorce
8. A Larger Circle of Neighbors: Deindustrialization and the Web of Class, Race, Gender, and Location
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
