A granddaughter of immigrants takes a penetrating look at Lawrence, Massachusetts, an industrial city that epitomizes America's past--and maybe its future. Schinto makes vivid Lawrence's history--the textile mills that were the birthplace of this country's industrial revolution, the huddled tenements, and more.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A decade-long resident of the once-legendary textile mill city of Lawrence, Mass., Schinto offers a modest, intriguing blend of reportage, history and reflection on her former home. The real trouble with blighted Lawrence, she states at the outset, is the loss of not the middle class but the working class. Yet, having moved there with her husband, returning to his family's business, she grew to enjoy the bonds of neighborhood and recognized, unlike some old-timers, that the downtown was not so much dead as transformed by the city's new, Latino population. Delving into the city's past, Schinto reports on Lawrence's haphazard housing history, its strikes and its churches. Her portrait of the contemporary city includes interviews with recent immigrants and an account of her husband's unsuccessful campaign for city council against a machine pol. Overcrowding, she observes, cramps people both physically and psychically: hence her title. But in a town where welfare offices occupy old mill space, it will take not only local self-reliance, the author argues, but also state and national strategies to revive a long-suffering economy.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Journalist/novelist Schinto (Shadow Bands, LJ 12/88) focuses here on Lawrence, Massachusetts, a city that rose out of the Industrial Revolution to become home to European immigrants searching for a better life by working in the textile mills. Immigrants are still coming to Lawrence although they are no longer of European descent; the textile mills have long disappeared. The author lived in Lawrence for ten years and became fascinated by its people and history, which she likens to that of other industrial cities in America. Written in a conversational, friendly style as if the author were talking with her readers rather than giving them a history lecture, her book is full of vignettes about Lawrencians and peppered with her own perceptions. The result is exceptionally personal reading. Unfortunately, the work lacks a bibliography and endnotes, making it difficult for the reader to separate the author's personal opinions from documented sources. For students and those with an interest in immigrants and the Industrial Revolution.?Dorothy Lilly, Grosse Pointe North H.S. Lib., Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good social history, but too apologetic,
By A Customer
This review is from: Huddle Fever: Living in the Immigrant City (Hardcover)
Lawrence, Mass. is a city in meltdown. It has 70,000 people, mostly poor, jammed into 6 square miles; a crime rate that places the city in a league with urban centers far bigger and the genteel habit of its residents of torching cars for the insurance money. Yet few would learn some of the stickier issues of life in Lawrence from Schinto's view. She lived in the city for 10 years, but dwells on the city's past glories at great length rather than taking a fearless, in-depth look at the present deep-seated difficulties of a city with pressing social, political and economic ills. By ducking the tough issues, Ms. Schinto really dodged the opportunity to ask the critical questions facing ALL of urban America today, of which Lawrence is but a small part: What went wrong in our cities? And what can possibly make it right again? Good for any who treasure the history of the mill workers in New England and the textile glory days, but Schinto's apologist approach disappoints. Perhaps it shouldn't; she does, after all, have to live in the affluent suburb of Andover just next door to hardscrabble Lawrence and may not wish to offend her former neighbors. Book could also use a map; even for this book reviewer, who lived in the city for two years, references to city neighborhoods got confusing
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
This book presented great historical view, but has no vision,
By A Customer
This review is from: Huddle Fever: Living in the Immigrant City (Hardcover)
I found the historical points of Lawrence very interesting. The hardships of mill workers were clear which also showed how they were exploited by those in power. It certainly served as the setting stage for "those who have and those who have not". I wish the author was able to broaden her view of the city by means of reaching a broader range of people in order to obtain fuller response of how they feel about the city. Though I understand her historical approach and how it may relate to her personally, I think she over looked the new middle class families that are moving into Lawrence because of it ideal location and beauty. Please know she did not "leave us behind" our exprience has been a positive one and this where we live the same middleclass lifestyle. Some of her statements are common among those who took "White Flight", as if finding fault with the new comers justifys attitudes of under current racism. We lived in Lawrence for over 8 years,and have come to participate in community actions that will continue to improve its image. There is a proud spirit of diversity that is sprouting in Lawrence. Many empowered families will not accept statements that try to keep strongholds of discouragment. Many are taking strong and honest looks at he problems and ready to deal with them. I'm glad we didn't read this book before we move to Lawrence because the author painted a very grim picture. Certainly there areas that are depressed, but there are white wooden fences going up in many places where there were none and there are plenty in Prospect Hill (where we live) that were there before she and husband moved to Lawrence. I think you must consider through whose eyes, see Lawrence, and based on their history and present relationship with the city.
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent story about Lawrence MA,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Huddle Fever: Living in the Immigrant City (Hardcover)
very much enjoyed reading this perspective of Lawrence MA and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the ethnic/cultural development of Lawrence
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