Rusted dreams

The larger consequences of the sharp decline of the American steel industry in the late 1970s and the 1980s are epitomized in the experience of a South Chicago neighborhood where two large steel mills shut down: mass unemployment and hardship; family tensions; deterioration of community institutions; decay of local businesses; and helplessness of business, political, and union leaders when confronted by the larger economic and political forces that had engulfed the industry. Bensman and Lynch believe that only a comprehensive strategy encompassing permanent import restrictions, industry modernization, and measures to widen the market for steel will save the industry and its workers. This is a perceptive and sympathetic account.