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Title details for American Made by Farah Stockman - Available

American Made

What Happens to People When Work Disappears

by Farah Stockman
Farah Stockman
Audiobook
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1 of 1 copy available
What happens when Americans lose their jobs?  In American Made, an illuminating story of ruin and reinvention, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Farah Stockman gives an up-close look at the profound role work plays in our sense of identity and belonging, as she follows three workers whose lives unravel when the factory they have dedicated so much to closes down.
“With humor, breathtaking honesty, and a historian’s satellite view, American Made illuminates the fault lines ripping America apart.”—Beth Macy, author of Factory Man and Dopesick

Shannon, Wally, and John built their lives around their place of work. Shannon, a white single mother, became the first woman to run the dangerous furnaces at the Rexnord manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was proud of producing one of the world’s top brands of steel bearings. Wally, a black man known for his initiative and kindness, was promoted to chairman of efficiency, one of the most coveted posts on the factory floor, and dreamed of starting his own barbecue business one day. John, a white machine operator, came from a multigenerational union family and clashed with a work environment that was increasingly hostile to organized labor.
The Rexnord factory had served as one of the economic engines for the surrounding community. When it closed, hundreds of people lost their jobs. What had life been like for Shannon, Wally, and John, before the plant shut down? And what became of them after the jobs moved to Mexico and Texas?
 
American Made is the story of a community struggling to reinvent itself. It is also a story about race, class, and American values, and how jobs serve as a bedrock of people’s lives and drive powerful social justice movements. This revealing book shines a light on a crucial political moment, when joblessness and anxiety about the future of work have made themselves heard at a national level. Most of all, American Made is a story about people: who we consider to be one of us and how the dignity of work lies at the heart of who we are.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 12, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593416150
      • File size: 345214 KB
      • Duration: 11:59:11

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      NEW YORK TIMES journalist Farah Stockman's narration of her memorable sociological portrait draws listeners into the personal stories of three factory workers who were displaced by a plant closure. Though the broad picture of American workers' declining opportunities is grim, she explains the causes with balance and perspective: free trade, weak labor unions, automation, pro-business politics. Stockman's intimate account of how the three workers adjusted to these changes humanizes them. Her smooth storytelling and vocal tone create an atmosphere that defuses socioeconomic grievances and makes such marginalized people sound more like us. This is an audio that will provoke greater efforts to address the causes of the widening cultural and economic divide. T.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 16, 2021
      Pulitzer winner Stockman debuts with a vivid and empathetic examination of “what jobs mean to people.” She centers the narrative on three former employees of the Rexnord bearing plant in Indianapolis, Ind., which announced in 2016 that it would close its doors and move production to Mexico and Texas. Shannon Mulcahy, who had been one of the first female steelworkers at Rexnord, credits the job with helping her escape an abusive marriage and support her multigenerational family. Since the plant’s closure in 2017, she’s struggled to find work that will provide the same benefits and sense of pride. Wally Hall sees the plant’s closure as the spur he needs to try to launch his own barbecue business, while union leader John Feltner has harsh words for coworkers who agreed to train their Mexican replacements for a $4 per hour bonus. Stockman contextualizes developments in her protagonists’ lives with lucid discussions of globalization, immigration, and the rise of the service economy, and casts events against the backdrop of America’s recent political turmoils, noting that Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Rexnord’s closure earned him supporters among the plant’s workers. Throughout, Stockman interrogates her own political and cultural assumptions, and draws vibrant profiles of her three main subjects and their colleagues. The result is an intimate and captivating study of the forces dividing America.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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