Virtual Event: Farah Stockman

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist FARAH STOCKMAN for a discussion of her book American Made: What Happens to People When Work Disappears. She will be joined in conversation by MARGERY EAGAN, the celebrated co-host of Boston Public Radio.

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About American Made

Shannon, Wally, and John built their lives around their place of work. Shannon, a white single mother, became the first woman to run the dangerous furnaces at the Rexnord manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was proud of producing one of the world’s top brands of steel bearings. Wally, a black man known for his initiative and kindness, was promoted to chairman of efficiency, one of the most coveted posts on the factory floor, and dreamed of starting his own barbecue business one day. John, a white machine operator, came from a multigenerational union family and clashed with a work environment that was increasingly hostile to organized labor. The Rexnord factory had served as one of the economic engines for the surrounding community. When it closed, hundreds of people lost their jobs. What had life been like for Shannon, Wally, and John, before the plant shut down? And what became of them after the jobs moved to Mexico and Texas?

American Made is the story of a community struggling to reinvent itself. It is also a story about race, class, and American values, and how jobs serve as a bedrock of people’s lives and drive powerful social justice movements. This revealing book shines a light on this political moment, when joblessness and uncertainty about the future of work have made themselves heard at a national level. Most of all, it is a story about people: who we consider to be one of us and how the dignity of work lies at the heart of who we are.

Praise for American Made

“At last, an elegy for the working class that doesn’t skate on limpid stereotypes about laziness or lack of thrift. Farah Stockman did not just parachute into the lives of displaced steelworkers in Indiana for her debut narrative masterpiece. She stayed, and then stayed some more. American Made is the story of how the rich screwed the working class while the rest of us yawned from our cushy bubbles.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick

“Farah Stockman’s respect for hardworking people is why they have given her access to their world, with all of its defeats and conquests. Her thoughtfulness as a writer is why we’re invited into their hearts, where dreams still simmer. To read American Made is to understand the strength and courage it takes to forge a life in a world that too many want to pretend does not exist. . . . An extraordinary tribute to the rest of America.” —Connie Schultz, author of . . . And His Lovely Wife and The Daughters of Erietown

“A vivid and empathetic examination of ‘what jobs mean to people’. . . an intimate and captivating study of the forces dividing America.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)