Rust Belt Boy: Stories of an American Childhood

Paul Hertneky is one of millions of baby boomers who fled the industrial north upon fulfilling his parents’ dreams of a college education. He returns to his roots in Ambridge, Pennsylvania in this collection of stories specific to one legendary riverfront plateau and one boy’s journey, but emblematic of immigrant life and blue-collar aspirations during the heyday of American industry and its crash, foreshadowing one of the largest internal migrations in U.S. history.Table of ContentsA Turning TideHorns in the HollowRust and RestlessnessMilk and HoneyWhere Stories Went to DieThe Front PewSanctuaryThe Nation's First EconomyThe Prurient Power of PierogiLife as They Found ItRough and Ready, Tough and TenderMoms Who Put OutA Flame That Water FedPopularity, Politics, and PatronageHumility and Its OppositeSure But Not At All CertainCuriosity as CurseLight and NatureMore Snoop Than SolicitorOf Heroes and HelpersUntetheredDodging a BulletItching All OverLike Ambridge with a CRust: The Patina of PossibilityRescue Amid the RuinsAcknowledgments