NOTE: Includes a broad selection of historical and cultural documents plus the novella This definitive edition reprints the text of Rebecca Harding Davis Life in the Iron Mills together with a broad selection of historical and cultural documents that open up the novella to the consideration of a range of social and cultural issues vital to Davis' nineteenth century. A general introduction providing historical and cultural background, a chronology of Davis' life and times, an introduction to each thematic group of documents, headnotes, extensive annotations, a generous selection of illustrations, and a selected bibliography make this volume the definitive scholarly text of this classic work of industrial fiction. —— Life in the iron-mills: the complete text—Introduction: cultural and historical background—A note on the text—Life in the iron-mills (1861 Atlantic Monthly edition) — Life in the iron-mills: cultural context—Work and class—The village blacksmith / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow—That aristocracy may be engendered by manufactures / Alexis de Tocqueville—Iron interests of wheeling / A.W. Campbell—Senate testimony from iron foundry proprietor / John Roach—In Soho on Saturday night (song) / Anonymous—Perils- immigration / Josiah Strong—The Anglo-Saxon and the world's future / Josiah Strong—Senate testimony on the kitchen garden movement / Anna Gordon—Ten nights in a bar-room (excerpt) / T.S. Arthur—The Quaker of the olden time / John Greenleaf Whittier—The Quaker settlement (from uncle tom's cabin) / Harriet Beecher Stowe—Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (excerpt) / Edward Bellamy—Art and artists—An inquiry into the art-conditions and prospects of America / James Jackson Jarves—Art thoughts (excerpt) / James Jackson Jarves—Hints to American artists / Anonymous—Conversations in a studio (excerpt)William Wetmore Story—The Stewart art gallery / Anonymous—The process of sculpture / Anonymous—The Greek slave / Anonymous—A sculptor's studio (from the marble faun) / Nathaniel Hawthorne—Roderick Hudson (excerpt) / Henry James — / Senate testimony on the arts and art education in the United States / Wilson McDonald—Senate testimony on industrial art schools for women / Florence Elizabeth Cory—Women and writing: the public platform—Letter to George D. Ticknor / Nathaniel Hawthorne—The great lawsuit (excerpt) / Margaret Fuller—St. Elmo (excerpt) / Augusta Evans Wilson—Literary women / Caroline Kirkland—Ruth Hall (excerpt) / Fanny Fern—A New England girlhood (excerpt) / Lucy Larcom—Little Women (excerpt) / Louisa May Alcott—Life and letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe (excerpt) / Annie Fields.
