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About the DVD
How Pittsburgh Built a Nation
"Born of Fire is a film that had to
be made, because we can’t truly
understand American art, culture or
commerce without examining the
monumental impact Pittsburgh and
Big Steel had on our views about
work, wealth and technology." —Bill Mosher, producer
In the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, Pittsburgh grew to
become the steel-making capital
of the world. As workers and artists adjusted to the industrial
environment, their efforts to find a way to embrace this new
way of life not only affected those who lived in the
region, but the entire nation as a whole. Today, the
Big Steel Era survives not only through the
production of more steel, but through the human
stories and cultural artifacts that steel, and those
who made it, left behind.
From first-person accounts of working in a
steel mill to artists’ reflections on the beauty
of the industrial age, award-winning producer
Bill Mosher takes viewers on a tour of how
Pittsburgh built a nation. Listen as a retired
steelworker recalls the ‘glory days’ of standing in
front of a 3,000-degree open hearth furnace, or the joy he felt in
his grandfather’s pride the day that he was named a mill foreman.
Join The Westmoreland’s Curator Barbara Jones and CEO
Judith O’Toole as they discuss the impact that the change from
a naturalist world to an industrial complex had on the region’s
artists. Listen as the NewLanders sing songs of joy, and sorrow,
immortalizing the experiences of millworker families.
In a multi-media format, Born of Fire explores the cultural
changes that took place during the Big Steel Era through art,
music, oral histories and social commentary. Just some of the
topics covered include:
- How Pittsburgh’s geography helped it to become an industrial center
- How the Battle of Homestead and similar struggles showcased
industrialization’s impact on the worker and the union movement
- How Big Steel changed the way America and the world
thought about wealth
- How artists who once celebrated nature learned to
see beauty in the industrial world
- How the people of Pittsburgh showed a strength
more durable than the product they provided
Born of Fire: How Pittsburgh Built a Nation
is more than a documentary about steel itself.
It is the story of how a city ultimately shaped
America, and how that legacy lives on today.
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