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Book Cover for: Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall

Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World

Jacquelyn Dowd Hall

Since its original publication in 1987, Like a Family has become a classic in the study of American labor history. Basing their research on a series of extraordinary interviews, letters, and articles from the trade press, the authors uncover the voices and experiences of workers in the Southern cotton mill industry during the 1920s and 1930s. Now with a new afterword, this edition stands as an invaluable contribution to American social history.

"The genius of Like a Family lies in its effortless integration of the history of the family -- particularly women -- into the history of the cotton-mill world." -- Ira Berlin, New York Times Book Review

"Like a Family is history, folklore, and storytelling all rolled into one. It is a living, revelatory chronicle of life rarely observed by the academe. A powerhouse." -- Studs Terkel

"Here is labor history in intensely human terms. Neither great impersonal forces nor deadening statistics are allowed to get in the way of people. If students of the New South want both the dimensions and the feel of life and labor in the textile industry, this book will be immensely satisfying." -- CHOICE

Book Details

  • Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
  • Publish Date: Aug 14th, 2000
  • Pages: 544
  • Language: English
  • Edition: Second Edition, - 0002
  • Dimensions: 9.04in - 6.03in - 1.30in - 1.60lb
  • EAN: 9780807848791
  • Categories: Labor & Industrial RelationsUnited States - 20th CenturyTextiles & Polymers

About the Author

Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd: - Jacquelyn Dowd Hall is professor of history and director of the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Leloudis, James L.: - Jim Leloudis is professor of history, associate dean for honors, and director of the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Korstad, Robert R.: - Robert Korstad is associate professor of public policy studies and history at Duke University.
Murphy, Mary: - Mary Murphy is professor of history at Montana State University.
Jones, Lu Ann: - Lu Ann Jones is associate professor of history at the University of South Florida.

Praise for this book

Diligent research and fine writing has produced a landmark work.

"Journal of Southern History"

"Like a Family" is the most important study of southern cotton mill workers we have ever had.

"Reviews in American History"

"A work of scholarship that is both authoritative and most refreshingly undogmatic.

Jonathan Yardley, "Washington Post Book World""

""Like a Family" is that rare compelling book, a delight for the academic and the public, with much to say to both.

"Journal of American History""

"This eloquent reconstruction of the cotton mill world allows us to understand and to pay homage to those who fought and lost.

Ira Berlin, "New York Times Book Review""

A work of scholarship that is both authoritative and most refreshingly undogmatic.

Jonathan Yardley, "Washington Post Book World"

"Like a Family" is that rare compelling book, a delight for the academic and the public, with much to say to both.

"Journal of American History"

This eloquent reconstruction of the cotton mill world allows us to understand and to pay homage to those who fought and lost.

Ira Berlin, "New York Times Book Review"