Staff Review: Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein

Janesville, Wisconsin is two hours east of Dubuque. It's a town of about 60,000 people that has traditionally had a strong economic base in the manufacturing sector, which for Janesville meant thousands of good-paying jobs, a strong union presence, and a fine community spirit with plenty of charitable giving. That rosy scenario began to change with globalization, outsourcing, the decline of union power, and other seismic economic shifts of the past few decades. What's amazing is that Janesville made it until 2008 before taking its hardest hit.

In her terrific book Janesville: An American Story, Amy Goldstein tells the story of the 2008 closure of the Janesville GM plant, which employed thousands of workers, many of them second and third generation GMers, people making $28 per hour and living solid middle-class lives. She also narrates the town's heroic attempts to shore itself back up (with mixed results).

Goldstein tells the Janesville story through the lenses of many of the individuals involved, from laid-off factory workers and their families to social workers and teachers, from affluent community business leaders to local and national politicians. Her focus on the fates of specific individuals -- and she follows them for many years -- brings the issue of middle-class decline into sharp relief. People are terrified and confused, kids go hungry, families are torn apart, the bankruptcy rate soars, one person commits suicide (the local suicide rate doubles after the closure). But there are heartening stories as well.

Goldstein effectively portrays the domino effect of just one plant closure: job losses and facility closures in other industries serving the plant, the overall plunge in local consumer spending, a sharp decline in charitable giving, mushrooming enrollment at re-training centers, an increased need for social services, and on and on and on. One unfortunate effect is a growing division in a once unified town between those who remain comfortable and those who fall. There's so much food for thought in this meticulous examination of one community and it's not all depressing despite the economic takeaway: those good wages are gone and it's anyone's guess if and when they'll ever come back.

Ann, Adult Services