Amoskeag: Life and Work in an American Factory-City (Library of New England)

I've read another book on mills in the south, and this was definitely better - less repetitive, and individual people's stories more interesting. Learned a lot about the operation of the mills plus the whole organization as a "benevolent family"; the many things the owners provided for the workers in a day when people didn't have much. The size of the operation and the number of employees was staggering. Very interesting to find that many of the the employees came as immigrants specifically to work in the mills, and stayed in their ethnic groups. The Scots, for instance, were the skilled weavers of gingham. The French came from Canada for better living and sent for their relatives. The Greeks and the Poles learned English and assimilated faster, but the French kept their language and stayed together more. An informative and worthwhile book.

My 4 star rating is based on the fact that, though writing for a limited audience's interest in a limited area of American history, the book is well researched, illustrated and presents some new information on the conduct of 19th century east coast mill communities. The rise and decline of the Amoskeag operation has many unique features not shared by any other mill towns or cities in the world at the time. Excellent material for a college thesis, a historical society program or an introduction for a new Merrimack River enthusiast.

love it

If you love history you will love this book about the mills in Manchester, NH

Highly recommended

book arrived promptly and was exactly as described

A wealth of first-person interviews with former mill workers.

excellent

Very interesting. Describes how people lived and worked in those very big mills. How immigrants from french Canada, Germany, Ireland and Poland worked hard in the mills. In their own words how they managed to live through strikes, recessions and employers employee relations..