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Out Of This Furnace: A Novel of Immigrant Labor in America
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Average Rating:  out of 18 Reviews
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Price: $15.95
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Sale: $6.95
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Manufacturer: University of Pittsburgh Press
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780822952732
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Paperback
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Author: Thomas Bell
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Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
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Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
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Publication Date: 1976-06-30
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Reading Level: 424
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Description: Out of This Furnace is Thomas Bell’s most compelling achievement. Its story of three generations of an immigrant Slovak family -- the Dobrejcaks -- still stands as a fresh and extraordinary accomplishment. The novel begins in the mid-1880s with the naive blundering career of Djuro Kracha. It tracks his arrival from the old country as he walked from New York to White Haven, his later migration to the steel mills of Braddock, and his eventual downfall through foolish financial speculations and an extramarital affair. The second generation is represented by Kracha’s daughter, Mary, who married Mike Dobrejcak, a steel worker. Their decent lives, made desperate by the inhuman working conditions of the mills, were held together by the warm bonds of their family life, and Mike’s political idealism set example for the children. Dobie Dobrejcak, the third generation, came of age in the 1920s determined not to be sacrificed to the mills. His involvement in the successful unionization of the steel industry climaxed a half-century struggle to establish economic justice for the workers. Out of This Furnace is a document of ethnic heritage and of a violent and cruel period in our history, but it is also a superb story. The writing is strong and forthright, and the novel builds constantly to its triumphantly human conclusion.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Great instructional resource |
Date: 2007-07-20 |
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Details: Very powerful book. This is perfect for teachers who want an emotional connection to immigration and the Industrial Revolution for their students. A great story for the casual reader, too! |
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Review Summary: Book |
Date: 2007-05-12 |
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Details: Came in very fast and in great condition. Can't say I actually enjoyed reading it, though. Lol... |
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Review Summary: A Great Read - Not Just for the Classroom |
Date: 2007-03-14 |
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Details: As someone has lived in the Pittsburgh area for over 30 years and is still considered a 'newcomer' by many, I have often wondered where the uniquely "Pittsburgh-ese" traditions and culture came from. For example, how is it that modern-day natives of Pittsburgh can be so incredibly conservative in terms of family values and gender roles, and yet align themselves with liberal political movements that tend to marginalize the family? Many of my questions were answered by this book, and in very human terms.
The descriptions of the characters and their lives are so very true to what I know of Pittsburgh and the wonderful, down-to-earth people who live here -- I was not surprised to read in the Afterward that much of the material is autobiographical. I was absolutely fascinated to read this first-hand account of what life was like, drawn from vignettes from the lives of the author's grandparents, parents, and his own family.
The places in this book are real -- you can still visit them. The people were real -- you can still see their gravesites. This is how it was, and this is how much of our modern world came to be. Forget Madison Avenue trends. This book is about building things (and lives) that last.
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Review Summary: Highly Recommended |
Date: 2006-09-09 |
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Details: This text was required reading for a college course on immigration and, I must admit, I was not looking forward to reading it. I decided to read it before the semester started and fell in love with it immediately. The characters are well developed from Kracha, to Mike & Mary, to Johnny. A very moving tale of the development of unions, the plight of immigrants, and the dangers they faced everyday working in the steel mills. I highly recommend this to anyone, required reading or not. |
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Review Summary: Neither novel nor history |
Date: 2006-01-05 |
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Details: Out of the Furnace was the assigned "text" for the first half of a 3-unit American History (after the Civil War) class. As a responsible and voracious reader, I bought and began reading the book. I found the style conclusory and turgid--this happened, that happened, something else happened--without any real character development to differentiate between and among the characters and clarify their relationships. As another reviewer observed, names kept changing and keeping the people sorted out was nearly impossible. Facts and emotions were asserted without textual basis or amplification, making it difficult for this reader to get interested in the book. For example, one plant was deemed "more dangerous" than the others--What does this mean? How was this known?
The cover lines on this book read "Long out of print" and I would say, "with good reason." Because the book was produced in 1941 by a writer describing life two generations earlier, there is not the detail and immediacy the reader gets from "Grapes of Wrath," for example, for which Steinbeck did actual site-visit research. Needless to say, the "direct" writing of "Furnace" makes it, as another reviewer noted, stultifying reading.
Further I seriously question the assignment of a novel written so long after the events "described," as the ONLY assigned text for this period in a history class. A variety of first-person reports (letters or other documents), statistical descriptions of wages, housing conditions, hours worked/injury rates, profit statements of the corporations, plus photographs of the living/working conditions would be more effective inconveying the same message.
I will confess I did not finish the book. Having determined that it was, in my opinion, unreadable, I dropped the class. |
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