Book excerpt: The myth that industrialization broke down traditional family ties has long pervaded American society. Professor Hareven, a leading social historian, dispels this myth and illustrates how the family survived and became an active force in the modern factory. In this book, Hareven examines the multiple roles that the workers' families fulfilled in facilitating their adaptation to the pressures of changing work patterns and new modes of life in an industrial city. She reconstructs family and work patterns among immigrants as well as native textile laborers over two generations during a crucial period in the transformation of American industry from the late nineteenth century. A case study based on what was the world's largest textile plantóthe Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshireóthe book integrates a wide array of documentary evidence with oral testimony. It examines the lives of real peopleóthe way they acted, the way they perceived their lives, and the kinds of decisions they made when pacing their lives in relation to the demands of the industrial system. Originally published in 1982 by Cambridge University Press.