Book description
A unique blend of memoir and public history, Packinghouse Daughter, winner of the Minnesota Book Award, tells a compelling story of small-town, working-class life. The daughter of a Wilson & Company millwright, Cheri Register recalls the 1959 meatpackers' strike that divided her hometown of Albert Lea, Minnesota. The violence that…
Why read it?
1 author picked Packinghouse Daughter as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Cheri Register grew up in Albert Lea, Minnesota in the 1950s and 60s, in a working-class home.
When she was 14, a strike in a meatpacking plant created deep divisions within the town and brought national attention when the National Guard was called out to maintain order. As a teenager Register felt acutely the social tensions and class conflicts inherent in such a situation.
In this book she elegantly weaves together her personal coming-of-age story and her own family’s history with details of the strike gathered from archives as well as conversations with those who lived through it.
With sensitivity,…
From Janet's list on The best literary memoirs from the Midwest.
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