Kissing the Shuttle: A Lyric History by Mary Ann Mayer, Blackstone River Books

Kissing the Shuttle weaves original poetry, archival images, and historical research. In his foreword, RI’s Historian Laureate calls the book “a blend of both triumph and tragedy.” Readers experience life in the textile mills and the dire facts of an epidemic, as well as the “esprit de corps” of a new public health movement to stamp out tuberculosis...including the nation’s first fresh-air schools.