"Elements of Tara Westover’s Educated... The mill comes to represent something holy to [Eliese] because it is made not of steel but of people." ― New York Times Book Review One woman's story of working in the backbreaking steel industry to rebuild her life ― but what she uncovers in the mill is much more than molten metal and grueling working conditions. Under the mill's orange flame she finds hope for the unity of America. Steel is the only thing that shines in the belly of the mill... To ArcelorMittal Steel Eliese is known as #6691: Utility Worker, but this was never her dream. Fresh out of college, eager to leave behind her conservative hometown and come to terms with her Christian roots, Eliese found herself applying for a job at the local steel mill. The mill is everything she was trying to escape, but it's also her only shot at financial security in an economically devastated and forgotten part of America. In Rust , Eliese brings the reader inside the belly of the mill and the middle American upbringing that brought her there in the first place. She takes a long and intimate look at her Rust Belt childhood and struggles to reconcile her desire to leave without turning her back on the people she's come to love. The people she sees as the unsung backbone of our nation. Faced with the financial promise of a steelworker’s paycheck, and the very real danger of working in an environment where a steel coil could crush you at any moment or a vat of molten iron could explode because of a single drop of water, Eliese finds unexpected warmth and camaraderie among the gruff men she labors beside each day. Appealing to readers of Hillbilly Elegy and Educated , Rust is a story of the humanity Eliese discovers in the most unlikely and hellish of places, and the hope that therefore begins to grow. "Elements of Tara Westover’s Educated... The mill comes to represent something holy to [Eliese] because it is made not of steel but of people." ― New York Times Book Review "In the tradition of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle , Studs Terkel’s Working , Molly Martin’s Hard-Hatted Women , and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed , Rust grants readers an instructive and chastening look at some of the labor on which we depend without understanding or appreciating it." ―Washington Examiner " Goldbach will engage you with her honest storytelling about what it means to be a Millennial, a woman, a daughter, and a person of faith in today’s world." ―U.S. Catholic Magazine "Goldbach clearly finds her voice in telling of her new-found fortitude and footing while working as a steelworker." ―The New York Labor History Association " Goldbach is a talented writer who weaves together remarkable descriptions and reflections on mental illness, poverty, rape culture and her Catholic childhood." ―National Catholic Reporter "Stirring." ―Beacon Journal "A female steelworker's soulful portrait of industrial life. Goldbach's evocative prose paints a Dantean vision of the mill...but she discovers in the plant’s quirky, querulous employees an ethic of empathy and solidarity that bridges ideological divides. The result is an insightful and ultimately reassuring take on America’s working class." ― Publishers Weekly "Bringing her perspective as an outsider―both as a woman and a liberal―to this insightful account of the steel worker's lot, Goldbach displays refreshing candor and hard-earned knowledge about the issues that divide us and the work that unites us. " ― Booklist "This beautifully told, nuanced memoir will strike a chord with fans of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, and pique the interest of sociology scholars." ― Library Journal "We can all learn something from a steelworker who found meaning inside the bowels of a mill in an economically devastated and forgotten part of America. At a time when the nation is divided geographically, politically, and demographically, Rust feels like a salve ." ―LIT Magazine "Like the flare of that undying smokestack flame beside I-490, this timely memoir snatches attention.... It’s well deserved: former ArcelorMittal steelworker Goldbach catches fire in her pages as she recounts her time working beneath that very flare, torn between her desire to leave and the family and determination she found in the gruff men at her side." ― Cleveland Magazine "This is a dusty book, a story like iron, it’s not always nice but it’s perfect. If you’re looking for something entirely different this week, “Rust” should be a strong contender." ―The Bookworm "Eliese Colette Goldbach becomes the Muse of the Rust Belt in Rust, her rich paean to steel, the industry in which she found herself.... Goldbach has learned to sing, in prose of passion and power. " ―Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Eliese Colette Goldbach uses formal experiment, broken narrative, and a voice that admits doubt and questions the terms of its telling to fight silencing. Masterful form is oft