Winner of the 2021 Rachel Carson Environmental Book Award Winner of the 2021 Maine Literary Award for Nonfiction Finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics John Leonard Prize for Best First Book Finalist for the 2021 New England Society Book Award Finalist for the 2021 New England Independent Booksellers Association Award A New York Times Editors’ Choice and Chicago Tribune top book for 2020 “Mill Town is the book of a lifetime; a deep-drilling, quick-moving, heartbreaking story. Scathing and tender, it lifts often into poetry, but comes down hard when it must. Through it all runs the river: sluggish, ancient, dangerous, freighted with America’s sins.” —Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland Kerri Arsenault grew up in the small, rural town of Mexico, Maine, where for over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that provided jobs for nearly everyone in town, including three generations of her family. Kerri had a happy childhood, but years after she moved away, she realized the price she paid for that childhood. The price everyone paid. The mill, while providing the social and economic cohesion for the community, also contributed to its demise. Mill Town is a book of narrative nonfiction, investigative memoir, and cultural criticism that illuminates the rise and collapse of the working-class, the hazards of loving and leaving home, and the ambiguous nature of toxics and disease with the central question; Who or what are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?

"Nell is one of the strongest, most honorable, and dearest heroines to grace the pages of an amateur sleuth novel.... P.B. Ryan knows how to write a tale that will grip and keep readers' interest throughout the novel." -Midwest Book Reviews Nell Sweeney, a young Irish-born governess in post-Civil War Boston, may not have much, but she does possess both a keen mind and a brave heart. As governess to the wealthy Hewitt family, she finds plenty of opportunities to use both-especially when the seamy side of society shows itself... The lowborn Fallons come to Viola Hewitt with a desperate plea for help. Their wayward daughter, Bridget, a pretty young employee of Hewitt Mills and Dye Works, hasn't been seen for days. Mrs. Fallon, unwilling to believe that Bridget would just run off without a word, fears that she's come to a bad end-possibly at the hands of her ex-con lover. Viola, confined to a wheelchair, enlists Nell to locate the missing mill girl. Working with Viola's black sheep son, Will, Nell uncovers a web of schemes and greed and dark obsession... and what she knows may just be the death of her. Originally published by Berkley Prime Crime, Murder in a Mill Town was nominated for the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark Award. 68K words. "Ryan creates characters you care about and a plot that holds your interest as you try to unmask the killer. Lively and intriguing, this is a fast-paced, wonderful read. -RT BookReviews "I love this series. After finishing the book, I had to go back and re-read scenes and I even pulled out the first book to re-read much of Nell and Will's many conversations again." -Babbling Book Reviews "The saga style of Catherine Cookson meets the 'Victorian vices' world of Anne Perry in this popular whodunit. Much thought and research has gone into making the two faces of mid-19th century Boston come to life, whether the gilded world of the Hewitts or the grubby back streets of the underworld." -MyShelf.com "Ms. Ryan excels in her ability to show her characters' complexities. Most are neither good nor bad, but living lives enmeshed with many shades of gray. Add the rich historical detail and readers have an excellent historical mystery with an intriguing heroine." -The Best Reviews "Nell is an interesting and unique character....The mystery itself is done quite well, with clues pointing to various suspects, and an unexpected resolution....I hope to see much more of Nell in future books." -The Romance Reader's Connection "1868 Boston is well portrayed in this series...an enjoyable story...There is no trace of Colonnade Row in what is now Boston's downtown shopping area, and Charlestown is but a shell of the prosperous city that existed there in the nineteenth century, but this book brings them back into existence. -Reviewing the Evidence

As the American economy seeks to restructure itself, Roots of Steel is a powerful, candid, and eye-opening reminder of the people who have been left behind. When Deborah Rudacille was a child in the working-class town of Dundalk, Maryland, a worker at the local Sparrows Point steel mill made more than enough to comfortably support a family. But the decline of American manufacturing in the decades since has put tens of thousands out of work and left the people of Dundalk pondering the broken promise of the American dream. In Roots of Steel, Rudacille combines personal narrative, interviews with workers, and extensive research to capture the character and history of this once-prosperous community.

This illustrated look at nineteenth-century New England architecture was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. This book, from the award-winning author of The Way Things Work, takes readers of all ages on a journey through a fictional mill town called Wicksbridge. With words and pictures, David Macaulay reveals fascinating details about the planning, construction, and operation of the mills—and gives us a powerful sense of the day-to-day lives of Americans in this era. “His imaginary mills in an imaginary town in Rhode Island, and the generations of people who built and ran them, come to life.” —The New York Times

Since its original publication in 1987, Like a Family has become a classic in the study of American labor history. Basing their research on a series of extraordinary interviews, letters, and articles from the trade press, the authors uncover the voices and experiences of workers in the Southern cotton mill industry during the 1920s and 1930s. Now with a new afterword, this edition stands as an invaluable contribution to American social history. "The genius of Like a Family lies in its effortless integration of the history of the family--particularly women--into the history of the cotton-mill world.--Ira Berlin, New York Times Book Review "Like a Family is history, folklore, and storytelling all rolled into one. It is a living, revelatory chronicle of life rarely observed by the academe. A powerhouse.--Studs Terkel "Here is labor history in intensely human terms. Neither great impersonal forces nor deadening statistics are allowed to get in the way of people. If students of the New South want both the dimensions and the feel of life and labor in the textile industry, this book will be immensely satisfying.--Choice

Occupying only 1.6 square miles in central New Jersey, the town of Milltown has seen the surrounding area change from rolling farmland into a home from industry, commerce, business and suburban developments. In one hundred years, the town has shared the changes that have come to Middlesex County and yet still maintained that old-fashioned, small-town feeling. Those who have spent their lives here and those who have come to adopt Milltown as their own will find in this book snapshots which together take us on a journey through Milltown's history, from the days of Bergen's Mill and trolley cars, through the arrival and departure of the Michelin Tire Company, and all the way up to the 1960s. The human side of town's rich and diverse history is also well documented, with images of the famous “Milltown tranquilizers,” the diner, and the old swimming hole.