The Foundry

by Albert Halper

A proletarian novel, brutal without being hard-boiled. The theme, the eternal struggle between capital and labor; the setting, a foundry and printing plant, in Chicago, 1927 to 1929; the viewpoint, that of labor, union labor for the most part. (Kirkus Reviews)

499 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Albert Halper (1904–1984) was an American novelist and playwright.

Reviews

[Patrick]

If I said, “panoramic proletarian industrial labor novel”, you would probably think, Dullsville; but The Foundry, set in Chicago in the late 1920s, is in fact enthralling. Albert Halper handles his huge cast of characters most impressively, as if he were Robert Altman making a movie 40 years later. As a writer he is on par with Steinbeck, although no one knows it.