Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown (Cultureamerica) (Paperback)

~ (Author), John Russo (Author)
Key Phrases: steel labor, men who make steel, steel mill closings, Steel Town, Brier Hill, Mahoning Valley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beautifully written with a plainspoken lyricism reminiscent of William Carlos Williams, Steeltown U.S.A. sensitively probes conflicting representations of Youngstown across a century of growth, struggle, and heartbreaking decline....A cold-eyed, warm-hearted elegy for industrial America that somehow renews our rusty spirits." JACK METZGAR, AUTHOR OF STRIKING STEEL: SOLIDARITY REMEMBERED "Linkon and Russo document with stunning precision the meaning of the erasure of memory. Steeltown U.S.A. should not only be read as a cautionary tale about corporate responsibility in an era of globalization, but as a lesson to all Americans that we must understand and preserve our past if we are to effectively deal with our future. Steeltown U.S.A. is a vital book." DALE MAHARIDGE, COAUTHOR OF AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM AND JOURNEY TO NOWHERE --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Once the symbol of a robust steel industry and blue-collar economy, Youngstown, Ohio, and its famous Jeannette Blast Furnace have become key icons in the tragic tale of American deindustrialization. Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo examine the inevitable tension between those discordant visions, which continue to exert great power over Steeltown's citizens as they struggle to redefine their lives.

When "the Jenny" was shut down in 1978, 50,000 Youngstown workers lost their jobs, cutting the heart out of the local economy. Even as the community organized a nationally recognized effort to save the mills, the city was rocked by economic devastation, runaway crime, and mob scandal, problems that persist twenty-five years later. In the midst of these struggles the Jenny remained standing as a proud symbol of the community's glory days, still a dominant force in the construction of both individual and collective identities in Youngstown.

Focusing on stories and images that both reflect and perpetuate how Youngstown understands itself as a community, Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo have forged a historical and cultural study of the relationship between community, memory, work, and conflict. Drawing on written texts, visual images, sculptures, films, songs, and interviews with people who have lived and worked in Youngstown, the authors show the importance of memory in forming the collective identity of a place.

Steeltown U.S.A. is a richly developed portrait, showing how images of the Jenny and of Youngstown have been used in national media and connecting these representations to the broader public conversation about work and place. Bruce Springsteen's song "Youngstown," the book Journey to Nowhere, and other pop culture artifacts have helped make Youngstown the symbolic epicenter of American deindustrialization. And while many people see the need to get over the past and on with the future, in rushing to erase the difficult parts of Youngstown's history they might also forget the powerful events that made the city so important, such as the struggles for economic and social justice that improved the lives of steelworkers.

This multifaceted study helps us understand not only how the meaning of work has changed but also why the changing meaning of work matters.

This book is part of the CultureAmerica series.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas; illustrated edition edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700612920
• ISBN-13: 978-0700612925
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,280 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book Of A Grand City & The People Who Made America Great!, November 10, 2002

By	Joseph J. Janos III (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Steeltown U.S.A.: Work and Memory in Youngstown (Hardcover)

What a superb book about a little known but renowned town known as Youngstown, Ohio. The text provides the history of this noble town from its founding to its growth to its impact upon the globe.

Youngstown became the center of the Steel Industry between Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago where it help out building the modern world. It was at one time the largest producer of Steel. The authors explain how the town attracted people from all over the earth. How it became the cradle of middle class values created by the practice of hard work, smart thinking and support of family with the opportunities produced by the establishment of the steel and related businesses.

It also depicts how Youngstown became the border town between New York and Midwest based crime families fighting over turf, gambling and other vices that affluence often attract. At one time, Youngstown was known to be an open town where anyone on the run could be protected if they knew who to pay for sanctuary without judgment of deeds. The money from Youngstown used to bet on local sports to college to pro sports actually contributed to building Las Vegas. The region was only second to gambling behind Las Vegas from 1940 to 1990.

At the same time, the book explains how this great city and region was weaken with the subsequent loss of over 50,000 steel jobs. How it had to experience the loss of such jobs, tax revenues and opportunities. Yet, the town and people persevere in the face of such losses. In the 1950's two families in the name of DiBartolo and Cafaro were the largest builders of Shopping malls in America and based in Youngstown. Today, new businesses actually set up in Youngstown's suburb of Boardman before going national just to test the market place.

What few know is Bruce Springteen wrote the lyrics to "Youngstown" based upon interviews in this book. I highly recommend you take the time to read this exquisite book written by two great authors and about a town and its people known as Youngstown, Ohio. A grand town because of its people and how they influence the world in so many ways explained in volume in this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book., January 3, 2007

By	Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo, Steeltown U.S.A.: Work and Memory in Youngstown (University Press of Kansas, 2003)

You don't really think of Youngstown as a place that would inspire a great amount of social criticism. In fact, if you're like most people, you really don't think of Youngstown much at all. It is a good thing that you are not Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo, who do think of Youngstown as the kind of place that would inspire a great amount of social criticism. And then they went ahead and wrote Steeltown U.S.A.

It shouldn't surprise you that people writing a book about the real-world effects of deindustrialization on an American city are going to be approaching the subject from a populist viewpoint; what should surprise you is that Linkon and Russo do so in a way that even most fiction writers are incapable of: instead of moralizing at every turn, they sit back and let the story of Youngstown get the message across by itself, realizing that the stark images of the effects of deindustrialization will do all the necessary work. And it does. There's little more that will tell you "deindustrialization is bad, mmmkay?" as the plight of Youngstown from 1977 to the present day.

While it's been thirty years now since the first plant closings in Youngstown, there can be no question, in today's economy of outsourcing, that Steeltown U.S.A. is a timely book--perhaps timelier than it would have been, had it been released at any other time. It is solid, well-written scholarship, a piece of scholarly nonfiction that does its level best to read like its more popular counterpart, and succeeds more often than not. It will definitely get you thinking more, and harder, about Youngstown. One of the twenty-five best books I read in 2006. ****

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I lived in Briar Hill, July 3, 2007

By	James Beeman "Youngstowner" (Youngstown, Oh) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Having live in Briar Hill in Youngstown, I found this book facinating. I read it in 5 days, & had a hard time putting it down! Youngstown, Oh has a proud history & has produced many sucessful people. I am passing the book along to all my local friends. Although Youngstown itself is very depressed, the sourounding area, Canfield, Poland, Boardman are equal to the finest comunities in the country. With the "working Class" mentality, many of us grew up with, there is nothing a "Youngstowner" can't accomplish.