Synopses & Reviews
Review
"As Green notes in his preface, too often labor history has concentrated on notable leaders, such as Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor or John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers. Yet the most important breakthroughs often originate from the base. This study offers a rank-and-file perspective, while at the same time synthesizing the working-class experience by affording an integrated view of the world of the worker in the workplace, in the union, at home, and politically. Green's dialectics focus on the struggle for control: control not only of the means of production but of one's own life. A first-rate social history and richly rewarding reading." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
The World of the Worker illuminates workers' lives at home, on
the job, and in the voting booths. A new preface enhances this social,
cultural, and political history: an unparalleled picture of working people
during the turbulent rise and fall of the labor movement.
"A fresh and provocative look at twentieth-century American unions,
and a fine introduction to recent labor history scholarship." --
Leslie Woodcock Tentler, Washington Post Book World
"Will be welcomed by anyone with a serious interest in labor history."
-- Library Journal
"Probably the best social history of twentieth-century labor
there is." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Virtually replaces any previously existing one-volume popular history
of the labor movement." -- Ron Radosh, Democratic Left