Out of the Furnace
To Mary and Skinner
Dedicated to Michael Martinka (October 15, 1991 - June 30, 2009)
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Michael Martinka was killed in a vehicular accident less than a mile from his home.
650,000 Americans were employed at the peak of the steel industry in 1953. Since then, the industry has lost over 500,000 jobs, which devastated the cities that the industry supported. "But that's the thing about hitting rock bottom," writes Bill Toland, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Some towns and city neighborhoods bounced back. Others broke apart on impact."
