This book investigates how the decline of manufacturing and the forces of globalization have reshaped the social and political landscape of American industrial towns. Chad Broughton, a sociologist, utilizes the specific case study of Galesburg, Illinois, to examine the long-term consequences of corporate relocation and economic instability. By documenting the experiences of displaced workers and their families, the author argues that the rise of populist political movements is a direct response to decades of economic abandonment and the erosion of the middle-class social contract.

Experts and reviewers frequently cite this work as a vital, ground-level account of the human cost of globalization. Readers often note that the prose is accessible yet rigorous, providing a necessary human context to the abstract economic debates surrounding modern American politics.