First published in 1984, this remains the definitive study of textiles as they were used in early American homes.

American Textile Colossus: The Story of Fall River, Massachusetts, its Cotton Manufacturing Industry, and its People is by Jay J. Lambert, president of the Board of Directors of the Fall River Historical Society. Jay devoted over a decade painstakingly researching and writing this major contribution to the history of the American textile industry. This book can be regarded as a definitive work on the subject. American Textile Colossus is a sweeping saga of Fall River's old cotton textile industry - the mills, the managerial hierarchy, the workforce, and the events and issues that shaped their lives. Documenting the cotton textile industry from the local perspective of Fall River, it is an unpretentious effort to understand the city's role in the industrialization of America.

"This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915-1928 held at the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture from September 27, 2013 through February 9, 2014."--Title page verso.

With the economy struggling, there has been much discussion about the effects of deindustrialization on American manufacturing. While the steel and auto industries have taken up most of the spotlight, the textile and apparel industries have been profoundly affected. In Empty Mills, Timothy Minchin provides the first book length study of how both industries have suffered since WWII and the unwavering efforts of industry supporters to prevent that decline. In 1985, the textile industry accounted for one in eight manufacturing jobs, and unlike the steel and auto industries, more than fifty percent of the workforce was women or minorities. In the last four decades over two million jobs have been lost in the textile and apparel industries alone as more and more of the manufacturing moves overseas. Impeccably well researched, providing information on both the history and current trends, Empty Mills will be of importance to anyone interested in economics, labor, the social historical, as well as the economic significance of the decline of one of America’s biggest industries.