American Made: Stories of Work from the WPA

by Anne Trubek (Editor), Kim Kelly (Introduction)

During the Great Depression, out-of-work writers were hired by the federal government to interview American working-class workers about their jobs. What was it like working in a meatpacking plant in Chicago? To make a living as a Portuguese fisherman in Massachusetts? A farmer in Nebraska? A Polish ironworker building the New York City subway? The result of this project was over 2,000 first person written accounts of working life, from as many workers, many of whom were first generation immigrants. Those interviews were laboriously catalogued and digitized by the Library of Congress, and a representative slice are presented to you here. American Made is the engaging, sometimes brutal, always personable stories of workers, told in union halls, at crowded kitchen tables, and during reading them is both like watching a period drama and peeking into a diary. The book lays bare the immigrant journeys and working lives of those responsible for the nation's 20th century manufacturing and economic prowess. Through this book you will learn what has changed in America since then--and what has not. With an introduction by Kim Kelly, author of Fight Like The Untold History of American Labor.

Genres: Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

Published July 14, 2026

About the author

Anne Trubek is the author of A Skeptic's Guide To Writers' Houses and co-editor of Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology. She has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired and numerous other publications.