The Belles of
by
William Moran
A Book Review by
Joy E. Aulph
March 2009
In
William Moran’s, The Belles of New England: The Women of the Textile Mills
and the Families Whose Wealth They Wove, he examines the social history of
the textile industry. As well, woven
throughout the book is the idea of the immigrant prejudice on the
Moran
chronicles the commencement of the textile industry when mills were built by
Francis Cabot Lowell and Nathan Appleton.
The mills would draw women from all over the
Following the
inaugural years, the textile towns quickly crumbled as first generation textile
owners departed and second generation “Lords of the Loom” realized their
monetary potential. Moran depicts the
immigrant lives of Irish, French-American from
The approach of the
book does not adhere itself to a definitive thesis, as it is not written by a
historian, rather Moran was a retired news journalist for CBS and was inspired
to write about the textile mills because every book he read about the mills “seemed to
have a narrow focus” (L’Heureux, ¶ 4). As such, the book is not to inform a
reader of his theory of social inequities of the textile mills, or prove a rationale
of its’ social impact. Rather, the book
is a light read, presumably intended for someone who might seek basic knowledge
about the textile mills.
Moran’s story
telling approach “leaves out the analysis a scholarly treatment would provide
but offers citations and a bibliography to give it authenticity” (Collier,
2002, ¶1). According to the bibliography, Moran used at
least 150 different sources. The
information gathered by Moran is an impressive assortment of primary and
secondary documents including books, journals, interviews, diaries, textile creeds,
songs, and poetry. The use of endnotes
was very clear and concise and probably a wise decision as most pages have at
least 3 citations, and some reach as high as 10 on a given page. While some historians might prefer footnotes,
the folksy nature that Moran’s book lends itself to, adheres more to
endnotes. The endnotes are logically
presented, in that they are broken down first by chapter, then by page number,
and finally in chronological order in which they appeared on the page.
Moran’s
book is arranged topically by presenting chapters dedicated to each group of
workers in the order of their occurrence to the textile mills. The brief introductory chapter contains an historic
overview of the women who would come to the textile mills throughout the years
of the textile giants, and a short paragraph about the other immigrants that
would follow the women into servitude.
Following this chapter, Moran chronicles the times and history of each
of the following groups recruited: women from New England, business leaders,
entrepreneurs and revolutionizers of the textile industry, Irish laborers,
French Canadians, Poles, Italians, Russians, Jews, and other immigrant
workers. The last two chapters chronicle
the efforts to earn women equal pay, create labor unions, abolish child labor,
the Great Lawrence Strike of 1912, and the demise of the Northern textile
industry to the Southern states.
Shamefully, prior
to reading this book I had virtually no prior knowledge about the textile
mills, where they where located, nor their historical significance. As well, I did not realize their influences
on American citizens, immigrants, child labor or evolution of labor laws and
working conditions. Moran’s book
provided me with a greater sense of
The Social Studies
curriculum timeline, for seventh grade students in
I
would recommend this book to those who would like to learn about the textile
industry and enjoy storytelling. William
Moran does an exquisite job of weaving fact with story in an unassuming
approach. A novice historian can feel
comfortable and confident in the reliability of the facts, from this former
news writer, editor and producer of CBS.
References:
Collier, B. (2002,
August 15). The Belles of
127 (13), 117.
L’Heureux, Juliana, http://www.mainewriter.com/articles/Belles-of-New-England-br.htm
The Belles of