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Shredding Paper

Name: Shredding Paper
Brand: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
SKU: 9781501785061
Price: 50.99 AUD
Availability: InStock

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESSISBN: 9781501785061

The Rise and Fall of Maine's Mighty Paper Industry

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$50.99

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By Michael G. Hillard
Imprint: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Release Date: January 13, 2026
Format: PAPERBACK
Dimensions: 229 x 152 mm
Weight: 450 g
Pages: 277

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In Shredding Paper, Michael G. Hillard examines how Maine, once the nation's leader in paper production, saw its powerful industry decline. From the early twentieth century to the 1960s, Maine's paper mills shaped the state's economy and labor relations, but by the late twentieth century, shifting economic forces and foreign competition led to their collapse. Hillard explores the industry's economic history, showing how local paper companies once controlled policies on labor, land use, and water rights. As national conglomerates absorbed family-owned mills, Wall Street's demand for short-term profits after 1980 accelerated the industry's downfall. Through a detailed retelling of labor relations and worker experiences, Shredding Paper uncovers the story of Maine's blue-collar workforce, their struggles, and the economic transformations that reshaped the state. Shredding Paper offers a compelling analysis of how changing political economies led to the demise of a major American industry.

Michael G. Hillard is Professor of Economics at the University of Southern Maine.

Introduction: The Detroit of Paper Part 1: THE RISE OF MAINE'S MIGHTY PAPER INDUSTRY 1. A Rags to Riches Story 2. The Paradoxes of Paper Mill Employment Part 2: TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP CHANGE IN THE PAPER PLANTATION AND THE RISE OF A NEW MILITANCY, 1960-80 3. The Fall of Mother Warren 4. Madawaska Rebellion 5. Cutting Off the Canadians Part 3: FINANCIALIZATION, RESISTANCE, AND FOLK POLITICAL ECONOMY 6. Fear and Loathing on the Low and High Roads 7. The High Road Cometh 8. Memory, Enterprise Consciousness, and Historical Perspective among Maine's Paper Workers Epilogue: Paper Workers' Folk Political Economy versus Neoliberalism

Far from a dry study of the industry, Hillard's highly readable and engaging book features 150 interviews with the workers and mill managers themselves about what happened. Shredding Paper is highly recommended for anyone seeking an understanding of how Wall Street greed ravaged an industry that once made Maine the "Detroit of paper" and how workers organized and fought back. (Maine AF-CIO) Riveting writing. (ILR Review) Shredding Paper offers a page-turning... analysis of a commodity at the center of supply, demand, and the ever-shifting quest to balance prosperity and dignified work. (The London School of Economics and Political Science)

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