To Make My Bread - Softcover

Lumpkin, Grace

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590774361 ISBN 13: 9781590774366

Publisher: M. Evans & Company, 2014

Synopsis

This classic novel, written in the midst of the Great Depression, translates the themes of Balzac to a Southern Appalachian setting. Lumpkin traces the path of the McClure family as they move from living as poor bootleggers in the mountains to living in a mill town, earning a pittance as factory workers. The McClures are navigating the treacherous path of industrialization without a safety net, even as the entire country reels with the effects of the Depression.

Lumpkin weaves a story in poetic mountains speech, moving through powerful religious experiences, through lawless love, and reaching a tremendous climax in a mill strike waged with all the desperation of a life and death struggle. Without literary tricks or devices she achieves tremendous emotional effects through sincerity and realism.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

A story of the industrialization of the South, To Make My Bread revolves around a family of Appalachian mountaineers - small farmers, hunters, and moonshiners - driven by economic conditions to the milltown and transformed into millhands, strikers, and rebels against the established order. Recognized as one of the major works on the Gastonia textile strike, Grace Lumpkin's novel is important for anyone interested in cultural or feminist history as it deals with early generations of women radicals committed to addressing the difficult connections of class and race. Suzanne Sowinska's introduction looks at Lumpkin's volatile career and this book's critical reception.

About the Author:

Grace Lumpkin was born and raised in Georgia. She spent many years working for the YMCA in Georgia, spending summers in the North Carolina mountains, where she experienced the plights of rural laborers firsthand. She also wrote four books, including The Wedding and Full Circle before her death in 1980.

About this edition

• Publisher: M. Evans & Company
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1590774361
• ISBN 13: 9781590774366
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384