Barnes & Noble to Host Book Signing for Lost Steel Plants of the Monongahela River Valley

MONROEVILLE, Pa. - Dec. 8, 2015 - PRLog -- Barnes & Noble to Host Book Signing for Lost Steel Plants of the Monongahela River Valley

Local author, Robert S. Dorsett, will be available to sign copies of book

Pittsburgh’s Monongahela River is named after the Lenape Indian word Menaonkihela, meaning “where banks cave and erode.” The name is fitting: for over a century, these riverbanks were lined with steel plants and railroads that have now “caved and eroded” away.

By the 1880s, Carnegie Steel was the world’s largest manufacturer of iron, steel rails, and coke. However, in the 1970s, cheap foreign steel flooded the market. Following the 1981–1982 recession, the plants laid off 153,000 workers.

The year 1985 saw the beginning of demolition; by 1990, seven of nine major steel plants had shut down. Duquesne, Homestead, Jones & Laughlin, and Eliza Furnace are gone; only the Edgar Thomson plant remains as a producer of steel. The industry could be said to have built and nearly destroyed the region both economically and environmentally. While these steel plants are lost today, the legacy of their workers is not forgotten.

About the Author:

Pittsburgh native Robert S. Dorsett has exhibited his photographs in the Three Rivers Arts Festival, as well as in the Historic Homestead Pump House in 2013. Images from his personal collection provide a sense of what the old steel plants were like at the end of the “Age of Steel.”

Join the author for a signing:

Where:  Barnes & Noble

700 Mall Circle Drive

Monroeville, PA 15146

When:  Saturday, December 19th, 2015 at 1:00 p.m.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online (https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467134668).

The combination of Arcadia Publishing & The History Press creates the largest and most comprehensive publisher of local and regional content in the USA. By empowering local history and culture enthusiasts to write local stories for local audiences, we create exceptional books that are relevant on a local and personal level, enrich lives, and bring readers closer - to their community, their neighbors, and their past. Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com