W. W. Norton and Co., 1994

Having previously written a fine study of the Tredegar Iron Works, Charles Dew now takes up a topic that is both narrower and broader. Bond of Iron deals with a group of slaves and masters involved in a successful and long-term enterprise in the iron industry in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The story begins early in the nineteenth century, continues through the Civil War, and reverberates through the 1880s.