Industrial Valley

by Ruth McKenney

Ruth McKenney's compelling novel of class and industrial conflict in Akron, Ohio, first appeared in 1939 and was widely acclaimed. McKenney was a capable journalist who had spent a year and a half in Akron, the heart of the tire industry, a city that she said "smells like a rubber band smoldering in an ashtray." Industrial Valley vividly portrays an industrial city crippled by the country's economic failures and also provides a stirring example of fiction predicated on social and political principles. It will intrigue readers for its contemporary as well as its historical implications. The images McKenney evokes of workers confused and enraged by a moribund economy seem startlingly relevant today.

Genres: Fiction, Labor

379 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

McKenney grew up in Cleveland and attended The Ohio State University. She worked for the Akron Beacon Journal before moving to New York and her job writing for the New York Post.

Her best-selling book My Sister Eileen was originally serialized in The New Yorker. The stories were so popular they were adapted to a play and a Broadway musical called Wonderful Town in 1940.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for anyone who grew up in a city with a dominant industry, such as this book portraits, Akron, Ohio, the former rubber capital of the world. It is also an interesting account of union organizing. It is from labor's perspective so the ilk that I was privileged to come from is demonized, and, despite the spirits of my ancestors, family and friends, is a delight for me as the first generation to be on the far left side instead of the far right. The author was a journalist for the Akron Beacon Journal and I think the book is a mix of fact and fiction. I thank Nancy Pearl for referring it to me.