The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills That Shaped the American Economy
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.51 (614 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0465028861 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-04-09 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Through the framework of this dichotomy, Green provides a compelling analysis of the effect of the company town on the development of American capitalism, and tells the sweeping tale of how the American economy has grown and changed over the years.. Yet company towns are the essence of America. In The Company Town, Hardy Green, who has covered American business for over a decade, describes the emergence of these communities and their role in shaping the American economy since the country’s earliest years. Hershey bars, Corning glassware, Kohler bathroom fixtures, Maytag washers, Spameach is the signature product of a company town in which one business, for better or for worse, exercises a grip over the population. But rather than adhering to a uniform blueprint, American company towns have come to represent two very different strands of capitalism: one humanistic, the other exploitative. Company town: the very phrase sounds un-American
The History of Company Towns is the History of American Capitalism History is depressing.The thing about history is that, with the right vantage, patterns become readily, painfully evident. Socially and culturally self-defeating patterns. It’s not too surprising — history is a chronicle of human behaviors condensed, distilled and funneled into a never-ending, disheartening paean of our own glorious shortcomings.Reading The Company Town definitely put me in a mood. It’s a fascinating, well-researched and well-written story about a seemingly innocuous topic — the history of American company towns, those urban centers bu. A Historical And Social Overview of Company Towns When most people think of company towns, I believe they instantly think of the towns operated by the coal mines for the miners. Not only were they not the first company towns in America, they were more of an anomaly than a normalcy.The first company towns in America developed along with the industrial revolution in Lowell, Massachusetts. The factories needed cheap labor, and the farmers running the agrarian economy needed additional income to continue farming. Young women were usually recruited to work for the mills. It made them happy to be off the farm, and it provided the . Melinda M. Conner said book yet but in scanning the index I am amazed that it does not include Midland. I haven't read the book yet but in scanning the index I am amazed that it does not include Midland, MI and Dow Chemical. There is a glancing mention of Dow Corning but the author is remiss in not highlighting Midland, MI which was and is a true company town and exhibits all the positive traits that are lacking in many other towns. Donn Conner
From the tent cities of Appalachian coal fields to the model villages built for New England mill workers, the company town was once a common feature in the American landscape, with a legacy that can be seen in Google and Microsoft's high-tech campuses. From Publishers Weekly Labor historian Green tells the story of American capitalism as played out in the rise and fall of the "company town" in this engaging book. All rights reserved. If the book has a flaw, it is its overemphasis on the (admittedly colorful) personalities and philosophies of the corporate barons at the expense of the wo