Friends of the Michael Schwartz Library Book Discussion

Rust:  A Memoir of Steel and Grit
by Eliese Collette Goldbach


Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025
12 noon-1:30 pm
Rhodes Tower 502 or via Zoom
All are welcome:  register here for a Zoom link or join us in person

 

The next event in The Friends of the Michael Schwartz Library book discussion series is Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 at 12 noon - in person or via Zoom.  Our book discussions are free and open to all: faculty, staff, students and the general public. Register here for a Zoom link. 

Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit
Eliese Colette Goldbach

ISBN: 9781250239402
Publication Date: January 5, 2021
 

Rust is an incredibly affecting memoir that chronicles Eliese's decision, after years of pursuing higher education and struggling to find stable employment, to apply for a union job at the Cleveland steel mill. At the mill, Eliese is a rare breed: a woman working in a physically demanding and male-dominated industry, and a liberal millennial laboring alongside conservative Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers. 

With tremendous grace and empathy, Eliese straddles many of the fraught lines that are currently dividing our country and offers an evocative, illuminating portrait of blue-collar America in all its nuance and humanity. Beyond taking readers into the belly of the furnace, Eliese also explores how the steel mill provides her with a sense of stability that allows her to finally confront a years-long struggle with bi-polar disorder and the lingering trauma of a college sexual assault. For these reasons and more, RUST is a truly unforgettable memoir that will appeal to readers of Hillbilly Elegy, Heartland, and Educated—and many more.

Forged in Cleveland:  Discover the powerful story of resilience, identity, and transformation set against the backdrop of Cleveland’s steel industry. Whether you've read the book or are just curious, come share your thoughts, listen, and connect with fellow readers over lunch and lively conversation.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eliese Colette Goldbach is a steelworker at the ArcelorMittal Cleveland Temper Mill. She received an MFA in nonfiction from the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Program. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, Western Humanities Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and Best American Essays 2017. She received the Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Award and the Ohioana Library Association’s Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, which is given to a young Ohio writer of promise. Her debut memoir, RUST, was a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award, and the story is currently being adapted into a play, which premiered at Cleveland's Dobama Theatre in 2025.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025
12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m.
IN PERSON or VIA ZOOM - Register here for a Zoom link
Discussion Leader: John P. Holcomb, Jr. Vice Provost for Academic Programs, Cleveland State University

Friends of the Library book discussions are free and open to all CSU faculty, staff, and students and the general public.
Contact Barbara Loomis at b.i.loomis@csuohio.edu for more information.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Michael Schwartz Library