Susquehanna University Press

"This book centers on women's economic prominence in both the family and local economy of north-eastern Pennsylvania. Stepenoff details how the working lives of women and girl silk operatives were intertwined with the anthracite coal mining industry of the community in which they lived. Women's employment choices and their resulting decisions were determined by their family financial situation throughout the entire period when the silk industry played an economic role in the area between 1870-1960. While Stepenoff couches her micro-study of the state's anthracite coal mining area within current historiography, labour, regional and women's historians will find they have much greater representation than business historians in both the narrative and the bibliography. However, writing a distinctive history of women in the silk industry is not Stepenoff's main goal. With this in mind, her analysis of how the daughters of coal miners and industrial workers shared experiences with their fathers in going out to wo rk, contributing their wages to the family budget and standing up for their rights as workers is effective. Through the years, these workers demonstrated their independence as workers, defining their important issues and goals. Stepenoff's description is particularly constructive concerning how women's goals as workers changed in response to labour legislation, a growing, although unrealistic, emphasis in the area on a male-breadwinner and more significantly, with the access to more highly-paid white collar jobs through a high school education. Acquiring the latter was partially dependent on the state of their father's employment, and hence, on the coal industry. By reaching its stated purpose, Stepenoff's study contributes both to the historiography of women's work and the emerging collection of regional studies concerning the textile industries and the localisation of many economic forces.

Stepenoff's book is a welcome addition to regional histories of the textile industries and debates about both women's economic choices and their financial role within the family, industry and local economies. She also reminds business historians that they must look at the many facets of the female economy, rather than merely quantitative analysis of business records if they are to acquire a clear picture of their workforce."

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