“Koistinen puts the ‘political’ back in political economy in this fascinating account of New England’s twentieth-century industrial erosion. First-rate research and sound judgments make this study essential reading.”—Philip Scranton, Rutgers University–Camden “Well-organized and clearly written, Confronting Decline looks at one community to understand a process that has become truly national.”—David Stebenne, Ohio State University “Koistinen’s important book makes clear that many industrial cities and regions began to decline as early as the 1920s.”—Alan Brinkley, Columbia University “Sheds new light on a complex system of enterprise that sometimes blurs, and occasionally overrides, the distinctions of private and public, as well as those of locality, state, region, and nation. In so doing, it extends and deepens the insights of previous scholars of the American political economy.”—Robert M. Collins, University of Missouri