Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World - Paperback

by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall (Author), James L. Leloudis (Author), Robert R. Korstad (Author)

Since its original publication in 1987, Like a Family has become a classic in the study of American labor history. Basing their research on a series of extraordinary interviews, letters, and articles from the trade press, the authors uncover the voices and experiences of workers in the Southern cotton mill industry during the 1920s and 1930s. Now with a new afterword, this edition stands as an invaluable contribution to American social history.

"The genius of Like a Family lies in its effortless integration of the history of the family--particularly women--into the history of the cotton-mill world.--Ira Berlin, New York Times Book Review

"Like a Family is history, folklore, and storytelling all rolled into one. It is a living, revelatory chronicle of life rarely observed by the academe. A powerhouse.--Studs Terkel

"Here is labor history in intensely human terms. Neither great impersonal forces nor deadening statistics are allowed to get in the way of people. If students of the New South want both the dimensions and the feel of life and labor in the textile industry, this book will be immensely satisfying.--Choice

Front Jacket

A classic study of labor history in the textile industry of the South during the 1920s and 30s. The authors drew from extensive interviews, letters, and newspaper articles to reconstruct the lives and struggles of factory workers and their families. This edition includes a new prologue and epilogue.

Author Biography

Jacquelyn Dowd Hall is professor of history and director of the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.