Common Sense Note
Lucid writing, a story of Dickensian atmosphere, and peerless artwork elevate this book to a cut above the rest. Learn here how a mill worked, but also where and why.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Peter Lewis
Having once read this book, never will you pass an old New England mill without going to take a look at the headrace, or appreciating why it has so many windows, or how come it now houses a software company and a few fancy condos rather than bobbins and spindles.
Macaulay's architectural drawings have great personality and beauty, and they are models of lucidity. The same can be said for his prose. The combination of illustrations and clear text makes the workings of a power train or a fly-ball governor seem obvious. Plus, there are all those details--such as the threat of whale-oil lamps igniting airborne cotton particles, or contemporary names such as those of Judge Pardon Fiske and Mr. Resolved Sparrow---that allow readers to tuck in and live the book.
Read to a class of twelve-year-olds who live in a town that once, but no longer, had a good variety of mills, one student rued, "They tore down old mills to put up the junky shopping center? Stupid." Of course, he probably wasn't thinking about working as a loom operator when he grows up.
Macaulay's books are history at its fullest, with threads of architecture, society, economics, politics, and geography all brought together to convey a supple portrait of a time and place.
Macaulay's other books include Pyramid and Cathedral. Also take a look at Lynn Curlee's Liberty.
From The Book
One of the first events held in the hall was a lecture by none other than Zachariah Plimpton on the importance of the British contribution to the American textile industry. The fact that so many of the unskilled hands were Irish immigrants probably accounted for the less-than-enthusiastic response.
Plot Summary:
David Macaulay stands alone in his descriptive approach to the architecture that surrounds us. MILL is typical of his imaginative and informative approach, as well as his glorious draftsmanship. The large-scale books are also intimate, and readers will leave these pages with not only an understanding of mill life but also a caring appreciation of the people involved.
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