Three Iron Mining Towns: A Study in Cultural Change (The Rise of Urban America)

"Three Iron Mining Towns" is an analysis of the interdependence of human character and social life connected with natural resource extraction. The 146 page book traces mining settlements through their formation, early years and maturity as resource dependent communities. Along the way we learn about the influence of culture upon the reformation of nature, the transformations of social institutions, the people who reside in these towns, politics and economy, and the con-tinuous ebb and flow of social life and community well-being associated with the mining of iron ore. "Three Iron Mining Towns" is one of the first sociological treatises which integrates the social with the bio-physical environment, an excellent example of the way in which rural sociologists studied natural resources and the environment.