Boston College English professor Carlo Rotella discusses his book *Good With Their Hands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt*, an exploration of cultural change in the working-class heart of the northeast and midwest. Visiting women boxers in Erie, bluesmen in Chicago, cops and crime writers in New York, and urban revivalists in Brockton, Rotella uncovers "what has been lost and gained in the long, slow aging-out of the industrial city."
Dr. Carlo Rotella is Associate Professor of English and Director of American Studies at Boson College. He has also taught at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Lafayette College, and Wesleyan University. He holds a Ph.D. degree from Yale University. He has published three books: *Cut Time: An Education at the Fights*, which won a PEN New England Award and was a finalist for the *LA Times* Book Prize; *Good with Their Hands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt*; and *October Cities: The Redevelopment of Urban Literature*. He has also published chapters in other books and numerous essays and articles in journals and magazines. He has appeared on the NPR shows *Fresh Air* and *Only a Game*.