Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Mary Gaskell's North and South examines the nature of social authority and obedience and provides an insightful description of the role of middle class women in nineteenth century society. Through the story of Margaret Hale, a southerner who moves to the northern industrial town of Milton, Gaskell skillfully explores issues of class and gender, as Margaret's sympathy for the town mill workers conflicts with her... (more)

Mary Barton

A Tale of Manchester Life

by Elizabeth Gaskell

The plot turns on Mary's romantic choice between the son of a rich industrialist and a working-class lover. The class-divide and the widening gap between rich and poor are central themes in a novel originally named after Mary Barton's father, John Barton.

Shirley (Oxford World's Classics)

by Charlotte Bronte

With an introduction and notes by: Smith, Margaret;

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

by Dave Von Drehle

On a beautiful spring day, March 25, 1911, workers were preparing to leave the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village when a fire started. Within minutes it consumed the building's upper three stories. Firemen who arrived at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside. The final toll was 146—123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in New York City history until September 11,... (more)

Hard Times

For These Times

by Charles Dickens, Paul Schlicke

Woes of Victorian life for the underclass.

A Curse Dark as Gold

by Elizabeth C. Bunce

"If you'll allow me to demonstrate, I do think I could be of some help to you here." I smiled tightly. "You'd have to be able to make gold appear from thin air to be much help to us now, I'm afraid." "Gold, you say?" he said quietly. "Well, not out of the air, maybe, but--" He reached toward Rosie and drew a length of straw free from her hat. From out of a pocket in his jacket appeared an old-fashioned... (more)

Lyddie [LYDDIE]

by Katherine Paterson

Lyddie/Jip Flip Book

by Katherine Paterson

A story of an orphan girl, separated from her siblings, and her struggle to earn enough money to reunite them, along with her struggle for better working conditions in the Lowell, Mass. mills.

Spotlight on the Industrial Revolution (Spotlight on History)Nathaniel Harris

Spotlight on the Industrial Revolution (Spotlight on History)

by Nathaniel Harris

Search of the Moon King's Daughter

by Linda Holeman

Included in one of the 2004 YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults lists Nominated for the White Pine Reading Program of the Durham District School Board Gentle Emmaline loves nothing more than books and flowers and her little brother Tommy. Sadly, her idyllic country life in Victorian England comes to an abrupt end when her father dies of cholera. The family is forced to move to a mill town, where... (more)

Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean

Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean

by Les Standiford

Last Train to Paradise is acclaimed novelist Les Standiford’s fast-paced and gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West Railroad—one of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken, destroyed in one fell swoop by the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. Brilliant and driven entrepreneur Henry Flagler’s dream fulfilled, the Key West Railroad stood as a magnificent... (more)

Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America (Galaxy Books)

Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America (Galaxy Books)

by Carroll Smith-Rosenberg

This first collection of essays by Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, one of the leading historians of women, is a landmark in women's studies. Focusing on the "disorderly conduct" women and some men used to break away from the Victorian Era's rigid class and sex roles, it examines the dramatic changes in male-female relations, family structure, sex, social custom, and ritual that occurred as colonial America was... (more)

Georgian Britain: Pupil's Book (History of Britain)

Georgian Britain: Pupil's Book (History of Britain)

by Andrew Langley

One of a series of books which charts the history of Britain from the coming of the Romans to the present day. This title is devoted to Georgian Britain and contains timecharts. mini-biographies and family trees.

Life in the iron mills, and other stories

Life in the iron mills, and other stories

by Rebecca Harding Davis

You must read this book and let your heart be broken- New York Times Book Review "One of the earliest recognitions in American literature of the existence of the very poor."-Michele Murray, National Observer Suggested for course use in: 19th-century U.S. literature Working-class studies Rebecca Harding Davis (1831-1910) published 12 books and many serialized novels, stories, and essays.

Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America

Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America

by Les Standiford

Two founding fathers of American industry.One desire to dominate business at any price. The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the riveting story of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the bloody steelworkers’ strike that transformed their fabled partnership into a furious rivalry. Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, Meet You in Hell captures the majesty and danger of steel manufacturing, the... (more)

Lyddie / Jip Flip bookKatherine Paterson