Out of This Furnace, a novel by Thomas Bell, is the story of successive generations of Slovakian immigrants and the hardships they faced in coming to America, finding work, and trying to find a way out overwhelming poverty and hardships. Out of This Furnace is a story about white, European immigrants, but draws some extraordinarily close similarities to the life of a freed slave after the Civil War, similarities regarding social standing, economic situation, and quality of life.
The first story in Out of This Furnace is about George Kracha, a Hungarian immigrant who came to America in 1881. After arriving in New York, Kracha walked to New Haven, Pennsylvania, to find work. He worked on the railroads, and then in the steel mills in Western Pennsylvania. After becoming tired of the confining steel mills, Kracha starts his own business, a meat market. The meat market is a great success, but after some poor investing decisions, and an extra-marital affair, Kracha's life falls apart, and he loses everything. The second story in Out of This Furnace is about Mike Dobrejcak, who marries Kracha's daughter. Mike works in the steel mills, and finds it hard to support his family and follow his ideals at the same time.
Steel mills in Pennsylvania were owned by Carnegie, who had beaten the initial attempts of labor unions. Because of the absence of unions, Carnegie had all the power when deciding wage rates. Therefore, wages for unskilled labor were so low that a man working seven days a week, twelve hours a day could just earn enough to keep his family living. Unskilled steel workers were in a Catch-22, "damned if you, damned if you don't." Work in the steel mills was the only work they could get, and for most, their only chance to survive.
Former slaves after the Civil War were in the same situation, only in a different line of work. Some ex-slaves were awarded land, but had no tools to farm it.