A castle in the clouds : Tom Plant and the American dream / Barry Rodrigue [prologue by Jacques Ferland ; epilogue by Charles Scontras].

Title:

A castle in the clouds : Tom Plant and the American dream / Barry Rodrigue [prologue by Jacques Ferland ; epilogue by Charles Scontras].

Author:

Rodrigue, Barry H.

Call Number:

337.76 R696

Publication Information:

Juneau, Me. : Archipelago, Inc., 2014.

Physical Description:

288 p. : ill., map ; 23 cm.

Description:

"The story of Tom Plant (1859-1941) gives us a gritty, real-life view of the American dream. Born into a poor French-Canadian family in Bath, Maine on the eve of the Civil War, he began his career as a boy laborer, cutting ice on the Kennebec River. Tom then became a union shoe maker in the "shoe capital of the world," in Massachusetts, financing his first workshop with a baseball wager. He went on to pioneer new trends in American business and to build the world's largest shoe factory. An inventor, his name became front-page news in the New York Times during a fight with the most notorious monopoly in the United States. A celebrated outdoorsman, he laid out a vast estate on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, as well as a retirement home for workers in his hometown. An advocate of the progressive movement, Tom Plant spoke for a new, pragmatic America, one based on fairness in the workplace, conservation of nature, plural heritage, and global harmony. His denouement was as surprising as his triumph." - Publisher's description.

Language:

English.

Subjects:

Businessmen Biography. United States

Locations:

Moultonborough (N.H.) Biography.

People:

Plant, Tom, 1859-1941. , Plant, Tom, 1859-1941. , Ferland, Jacques. , Scontras, Charles A. 1929-

Credit Line:

Gift of Cristina Ashjian December 2017