Author writes about Bethlehem Steel mill workers and their struggles
Author Deborah Rudacille based her book Roots of Steel on the mill workers of Bethlehem Steel in Dundalk, Maryland. Rudacille herself grew up there, but she moved away after going to college. She came back in order to talk to the retired steel workers who had made up the hard-working population there until the steel industry collapsed in the 1970s and 1980s.
What she learned from the people she interviewed was that steel work was dirty, difficult and dangerous. The coke ovens and blast furnaces burned and maimed many people. Those who remained healthy enough and whole enough to retire from their jobs later found themselves the victims of work-related diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Some of the people Rudacille had interviewed died before the book was published.
For the full story, go to The Urbanite Magazine.
