Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Introduction. Truth and Beauty in the Rust Belt 1. The Culture of the Hands 2. Too Many Notes 3. Grittiness 4. Rocky Marciano's Ghost Conclusion. Getting There Acknowledgments Notes Index

About the Author

Carlo Rotella is Assistant Professor of English and American Studies at Boston College. He is author of October Cities (California, 1998) and a regular contributor to the Washington Post Magazine. His essays have appeared in The American Scholar, DoubleTake, and Harper's, and his work is included in Best American Essays 2001.

Reviews

"This is a brilliant study, warm and frequently thrilling, of an inspired combination of subjects. Postindustrial American urban culture has found its great poet-theorist in Carlo Rotella."-William Finnegan, author of Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country