The Face Of Decline Book Review

From 1870 to 1910 was Pittsburgh's Golden Age. Steel was a main factor in making Pittsburgh what it is today. But steel was not the only industry in Pittsburgh. Wood, coal, limestone, sand, and flax were also some of the resources they had. It was the steel capital of the world due to the abundance of resources. With all of the big promising jobs many people did not want to have the small jobs that were needed (Dietrich).

Shortly after the revolutionary war, the small town of Pittsborough, then renamed Pittsburgh began to develop into a very important center, specializing in trading and industry. The convenience of natural resources and technological advancement has ranked Pittsburgh as one of the leading industrial cities in the United States in the past. Historically, the city of Pittsburgh has created numerous manufacturing plants responsible for producing steel, iron, and other products for the U.S. economy that still exist today. The Encyclopedia Britannica explains Pittsburgh's economic might during this period:

Coal became the fuel that fired the furnaces of the nation, transforming the Appalachian region socially and economically. Unfortunately mountain people didn't realize the implications of their mineral wealth. Many sold their land and mineral rights for pennies an acre to outlanders. Appalachians became laborers rather than entrepreneurs. Coal became a major industry which was extremely sensitive to outside fluctuations in the economy, leading to boom and bust cycles. The industry was controlled by interests outside the region, so that little of the profit remained or was reinvested.

The research in this paper will come from three basic sources. The first source is over the internet. Using the key words Underground, Railroad and Ohio, articles and books will be found. The library will be the second source. Again the key words, Underground, Railroad and Ohio will be used to find and books and newspapers containing valuable information. A local specialist by the name of Mr. Henry Burke will be the third source for this paper. He will provide newspaper articles and stories that he discovered during his research. Interviews with him will also provide valuable insights into the knowledge he has gained throughout his research.

It becomes clear to any person that is interested in the Second World War that the historiography is a dense field. The most overwhelming advantages in this density is the able of readers to cross reference information between multiple points of view and topics of research. On the other hand, one of the more challenging aspects of this particular historiography is that historians can fall into well-worn tracks when it comes to directing their narrative, leading many readers to find it hard to find a fresh and provocative work. In Marion A. Kaplan memorable book, Between Dignity and Despair, readers will find a new interpretation of one of the most horrifying event in human

In the book, The Worst Years of Our Lives, Barbara Ehrenreich describes the current American response to the modern television. She believes that television had changed overtime as over a decade ago, a majority of things shown on television were things people could do themselves. Today, however, television is full of violence, close-range shooting, racing, etc. This worries her because today's people are unable to do what they see on television and eventually become "couch potatoes" when they watch for hours at a time. Her belief is that there's no reason for a person to continue watching television due to the boredom and jealousy it causes.

The borough of Centralia was once a community that had enough coal to make it a lively, industrial area. It was a small community, but a prosperous town, operating its own school district. Centralia once had 5 hotels, 7 churches, 27 saloons, 2 theaters, a bank, a post office, and 14 stores. The town of Centralia, Pennsylvania had veins full of anthracite, the richest and purest coal of all. There is just one problem: It is difficult to ignite anthracite, but once it is lit, it is very hard to put out. No one really knows what happened but one theory suggests that in the spring of 1962, five volunteer firefighters were burning excess garbage in a landfill behind Odd Fellows Cemetery. They unknowingly picked a spot where anthracite was near the

Describe the typical pattern of development and decline in the mining regions. What was life like for men and women in the mining camps and towns?

Arguing flaws in the expansion of Appalachia’s postwar economy, Eller responds this led to “growth without development”. With the coal industry flourishing

In the 1800s, the first Steel Mills were built in Youngstown, Ohio and it’s economy flourished their Steel Mills produced the majority of steel used in World War I, their economy picked up once again during World War II. This created many jobs. On September 19, 1977, “Black Friday,” was started. It was the beginning of the end for Youngstown, Ohio’s stable economy. On September 19, 1977 Youngstown starting losing the steel industry jobs, this lasted until the mid 1980s. Youngstown, Ohio became apart of the ,”Rust Belt,” along with Pittsburg. The,” Rust Belt is a chain of cities in northeastern and Midwestern US, that are known for their declining industries. According to Professor Harris, Youngstown, “Ohio will NEVER Recover. Youngstown, Ohio

Burns, Shirley Stewart. Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2007. Print.

After researching ten monuments in my hometown of Shamokin, a small anthracite coal region town in central Pennsylvania, I recognized a lack of representation of Shamokin’s coal mining heritage throughout its urban spaces. Considering coal was the main production of labor for decades, there are no public monuments dedicated to its most influential contribution to the world. This summer I undertook researching ten monuments that depict representations of coal miners and their heritage throughout different PA anthracite regions; thus, discovering how this important heritage is represented and its effect on the public memory of a town. As I archived materials on the monuments, I created a digital database curating the ten monuments and analyzing

The discovery of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania in the late 1700s led to the development of a robust coal industry in the eastern part of Pennsylvania that grew rapidly and contributed greatly to the history and the economy of Pennsylvania. The book The Face of Decline written by Thomas Dublin, Walter Licht, provides a well written historical and personal account of the discovery, growth, and finally the collapse of the anthracite coal industry in Pennsylvania in a chronological format. Half way through the book one starts to notice some changes in the authors format to cause and effect. The change occurs in order to discuss the cause and resulting effect of events in the region and the solutions. The story is one of great growth and opportunity in the early years which are highlighted by the documented economic growth experienced and supported through testimony within the eastern Pennsylvania coal region. After a period of economic prosperity and community growth from 1900 through 1940 challenges began to erode and occur that created problems for the community and the economy that the coal industry provided. Finally the region’s economy suffered horrendous losses as described by interviews of local residents and families who lived and experienced the rise of the region’s economy. Many of the scars are still evident by the blight and decaying scenes one would experience by traveling through the region’s communities that once fueled the American economy with the energy

Environmental problems exist everywhere in this world today; whether it is in air, the water, traffic, crowding, or noise. Dubois, Pennsylvania which is known for its lumber and coal mining has 7, 794 people living here today. When this land was founded and cleared it was sold as one acre parcels, and each land owner had to determine their own road systems; which is why most of the roads in Dubois are narrow today. Dubois was known as “The Divided City” back in the very early stages of it growth. There was the Dubois side, and Rumbarger side, and separated by a low beaver damn. As population and business grows the

(Geology.com par. 1) Current mining operations are primarily located in West Central Wisconsin, but there are also facilities in Burnett, Green Lake, Outagamie and Waupaca counties. There are a total of one hundred twenty eight mines, ninety-two mines are active. The hills of Western Wisconsin contain the sand necessary to do hydraulic fracking for natural gas, which means Wisconsin rural communities have become grand central station of open-pit frac sand mining. In just five years Wisconsin frac sand facilities have gone from a few to more than a hundred. Wisconsin controls seventy five percent of the frac sand market in the entire United States.(Conservation Voters par. 3) Mary Needham and her son, Brian O’Leary, never banked on a sand mine moving next door when they bought their house in La Salle, Wisconsin. A farmhouse and barn was to the west of their house across a small wooded area. In 2013 the city of La Salle approved a zoning request for Quality Sand Products to set up a sand mine at the end of their road.(The Times par. 7) The farmhouse and barn and surrounding land were sold to U.S. Silica,