Cradle to Grave: Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines [Paperback]

Larry Lankton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 1993

Concentrating on technology, economics, labor, and social history, Cradle to Grave documents the full life cycle of one of America's great mineral ranges from the 1840s to the 1960s. Lankton examines the workers' world underground, but is equally concerned with the mining communities on the surface. For the first fifty years of development, these mining communities remained remarkably harmonious, even while new, large companies obliterated traditional forms of organization and work within the industry. By 1890, however, the Lake Superior copper industry of upper Michigan started facing many challenges, including strong economic competition and a declining profit margin; growing worker dissatisfaction with both living and working conditions; and erosion of the companies' hegemony in a district they once controlled. Lankton traces technological changes within the mines and provides a thorough investigation of mine accidents and safety. He then focuses on social and labor history, dealing especially with the issue of how company paternalism exerted social control over the work force. A social history of technology, Cradle to Grave will appeal to labor, social and business historians.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An exceptionally thoughtful, thorough and well-integrated account of labor, business, community and technological change in a fundamental sector of America's second industrial revolution."--Philip Scranton, Rutgers University

"Precisely what is needed in the field: a work which combines personal experience, community life, descriptions of work and a specific physical environment. It allows readers to `feel' what life was like for these miners and their families."--Patrick Gagnon, Silver Lake College

"Offers rich and thoughtful accounts of technological change as it transformed copper mining....Lankton has offered a penetrating exploration of an important sector of American mining and a model for exploring the interconnections of technological change, management policies, and workplace traditions during industrialization."--Technology and Culture

"Will be quite useful to historians...for its many insights into the paternalistic approach to management, especially in its mediation of technological and economic change."--Industrial and Labor Relations Review

"Should appeal to a large and varied audience....I recommend it to all readers who enjoy stories of the past."--Wisconsin Magazine of History

About the Author

Larry Lankton is at Michigan Technological University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 25, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195083571
• ISBN-13: 978-0195083576
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Students Perspective, March 12, 2000

By 

John Gruber (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cradle to Grave: Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines (Paperback)

In my senior year at Michigan Tech, I was forced into the reality that I couldn't take only engineering and science class's. I reluctantly signed up for Mr. Lanktons class and subsequently read the course text, "Cradle to Grave". This book was outstanding in it's detail of the area during the mining boom and it's decline. It gives a great account of the miner and the miner's family. What it means to be "owned by the company store". To get all of these accounts was very interesting having done plenty of "exploration" in the Keweenaw on my own. In my professional life Larry's book has proven a valuble refrence for understanding the difficulties in introducing new technology into a heavy labor-intensive industry.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Copper Country students must read, December 28, 1999

By 

Louis Myers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cradle to Grave: Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines (Paperback)

Having first encountered both Mr. Lankton and this book while a student at Michigan Technological University, I found the book both engrossing as well as informative, which made taking the classs that much easier. Not overly techincal, but just enough to keep the reader informed. This is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the Copper Country. It is also a good source of information on pre-WWII mining practices, including paternalism and labor strife. It also includes details of life outside of the copper mines. Enjoy

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable and well-balanced, October 8, 2001

By 

S. Florman "Historical songster" (Andover, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cradle to Grave: Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines (Paperback)

Lankton's book is a welcome change from so many modern histories crammed with academic jargon. It is concise, easy to read, and chock-full of excellent primary source material. Lankton gives the reader a real feel for the place and period, and paints a balanced picture both of mine workers and management. All of the conflicting and complimentary motivations and incentives come out well, in one of the few works on American mine labor that look fairly at both sides and don't read like an IWW tract. Actually hard to put down - not something you can say often about a labor history book! Great work.

Really gave me a feel for my Finnish ancestors, who worked the mines from turn of the century until the Big Strike. A great documentation of a period whose physical remnants are fast disappearing.