Book Review

Warwick's Gerald Carbone pens book on Brown & Sharpe

By Don Fowler
Posted 4/26/17

Book Review By DON FOWLER Warwick author Gerald M. Carbone was hired by Henry Sharpe Jr. and his wife Peggy to write the story of Brown & Sharpe, the machine tools manufacturer that the family had owned for over 150 years. They told me that their family"

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Book Review

Warwick's Gerald Carbone pens book on Brown & Sharpe

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Warwick author Gerald M. Carbone was hired by Henry Sharpe Jr. and his wife Peggy to write the story of Brown & Sharpe, the machine tools manufacturer that the family had owned for over 150 years.

“They told me that their family was not interested in a vanity book to clog up their coffee table,” Carbone wrote. “They wanted a good, objective look at the company’s history.”

The result is a comprehensive history of one of Rhode Island’s leading manufacturers and employers titled, “Browne & Sharpe and the Measure of American Industry, published this month by McFarland.

Carbone, with extensive archives that the Sharpes had donated to the Rhode Island Historical Society, has written a book that Brown University professor and former chairman of the Division of History of Technology at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Steven Lubar says “should be read not only as history, but also to understand the past, present and future,”

The author begins at the beginning, 1848, when Lucian Sharpe came to work as an apprentice for Joseph Brown in his Providence machine shop. By 1865 the shop had grown to a factory employing over 300 men who worked 60-hour weeks.

Henry Sharpe Jr. insisted that the book include not only the positive impact that the company had on Rhode Island, but also the difficult times and events, including the longest strike in U.S. history (16 years).

Browne & Sharpe’s history is a history of Rhode Island, the business community and the labor movement. Carbone covers it all, including the woman’s movement, working conditions, union unrest, the Great Depression, the war years, sexual discrimination, plus the many inventions and contributions that one of Rhode Island’s major employers made to the state and to the world.

The company grew rapidly and moved from Providence to North Kingston in 1965. On November 17, 2000 Browne & Sharpe was sold to a Swedish company, ending its 168-year run. Carbone tells its story in an easy readable fashion, with photos from the archives adding to the account.

“Brown and Sharpe and the Measure of American History” by Gerald M. Carbone, published by McFarland, is available in softcover for $39.95. The book is available through all major ebook providers or may be ordered from www.mcfarlandpub.com or by calling 800-253-2187.

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