The Heat: Steelworker Lives & Legends

by Jimmy Santiago Baca (Editor)

A collection of short stories written by steelworkers under the guidance of award-winning poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. These voices of the working class describe what it's like to spend a lifetime in the shadow of America's steel mills. The Heat offers a rare last glimpse inside the huge, old abandoned plants that now litter the rust-belt landscape.

157 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Jimmy Santiago Baca of Apache and Chicano descent is an American poet and writer.

Reviews

[Bingustini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading The Heat a fair bit. A lot of the works are engaging, and it is very impressive that none of the authors, until this book, had much training or practice with writing. It does show from time to time, with stories having abrupt endings or cliched dialogue, but by and large the works are clear, concise, and convey quite a bit about how the authors thought and felt about working in the steel industry.

Some of the poems were particularly impressive. This book can be read straight through (I did), but if you want to peruse it lends itself to that as well. The works are divided by subject matter, but vary so much both in style and tone that reading out of order is fine.