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The I Index

American Made: What Happens to People When Work Disappears

Next in the queue

73

/100

I Index Overall Rating

Readers

85/100

Critics

61/100

Scholars

N/A

Author:

Farah Stockman

Publisher:

Random House

Date:

October 12, 2021

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.

What The Reviewers Say

Richard Davies,
The New York Times Book Review
... a gripping portrait of the human costs incurred when industries decline. [Stockman's] book is a stark warning to towns and countries facing similar trends, and a lesson in how much economists can miss.
Laura McCallum,
The Star Tribune
Stockman not only tells [her subjects'] stories, from childhood to how they ended up at Rexnord to the years after the closure, but she becomes close enough to all three to get them to open up about their dreams, fears, disappointments and secrets. Their candor in the midst of upheaval and pain allows Stockman, and the reader, to see the world 'through the steelworkers' eyes.
Jennifer Clifton,
Library Journal
This richly detailed account focuses on just one factory in one city, but it still manages to capture the human impacts of outsourcing, automation, and the decline of factory trades.

Publishers Weekly
... vivid and empathetic.