Life in the Iron Mills

Rebecca Harding Davis

Nov 2014 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

A shocking rendering of poverty, tragedy, and desperation in the American North

This shocking depiction of the lives of impoverished Welsh miners in the American North was one of the first novels to expose the brutal realities facing the nation’s poor. Rebecca Harding Davis casts an unflinching gaze into the lives of the destitute, drunk, and desperate in a work that was controversial for its honesty, but popular for its adept storytelling.
 
The story follows Hugh Wolfe, a proud and educated yet desperately poor laborer in an iron mill, and his cousin Deborah, who breaks the law for a chance at a better life for Hugh. If they keep the ill-gotten money, the pair could transcend their hardship, and Hugh could become the talented artist he was born to be; however, keeping the money would mean sacrificing the morals they’ve so stridently adhered to all their lives.
 
First published in 1861, Life in the Iron Mills became notorious for its merciless descriptions of underclass suffering. As relevant today as it was in the nineteenth century, this is a classic, hypnotic tragedy.
 
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Ratings and reviews

This cultural commentary on the plight of the labor force during the industrial revolution is described quite unevenly by the author part poet part circuit, riding preacher is a little over the top in her attempt to stir the reader to the plight of the common laborer. While it is a call for social justice for its day it remains a product of its time in its presentation of the subject a must read however for historical purpose

About the author

Rebecca Harding Davis (1831–1910) was an American author and journalist widely recognized as a pioneer of American realism. She is best remembered for Life in the Iron Mills.