Rachel Slade: Making It in America

The Salem Athenaeum is pleased to host best-selling author Rachel Slade, who will discuss her latest book, Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A.(and How It Got That Way), an eye-opening look at American manufacturing, whether it can ever successfully return to our shores, and why our nation depends on it. Her lens is the experience of one young couple in Maine as they attempt to rebuild a lost manufacturing industry ethically. She will be in conversation with Catherine Allgor, president of the Mass Historical Society.

Slade offers a fascinating take on free-trade economics and manufacturing history and a fresh perspective to the story of textiles and their critical role in shaping capitalism. Demand for cheap cloth sparked the industrial revolution. Brutal conditions in New England’s textile mills drove the workers to organize. This deeply personal account of how individual choices shape a nation weaves a rare, compassionate look at what came before, where we are now, and where we’re going—the fabric of our lives.