"Based on oral histories and archival documents, A New Order of Things offers a vast, accessible overview of the rise and collapse of an industry that forced New England into the modern age. Lavishly illustrated with photographs drawn from museum archives and private collections, this volume also includes new photographs of artifacts displayed at historic sites across New England. Paul E. Rivard brings to life the stories of the people who used these artifacts.

He constructs vibrant narratives of textile workers like the "mill girls" of 1840s Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts, and the Irish and French Canadian immigrants who made up the overwhelming majority of the workforce in New England mills by the 1860s. Rivard discusses the importance of water sources to patterns of development, the mechanics of carding wool and spinning cotton, the creation of company-run towns, industrial work and family relations, and union organizing within the industry.

In A New Order of Things, the history of industry and technology tells the stories of the men and women who became the first modern New Englanders."--BOOK JACKET.