Synopses & Reviews
A longshoreman on the San Francisco waterfront for over thirty years, Reg Theriault distills that experience into a wry, knowing, tough-minded book that finally gives voice to the thoughts and conditions of laboring men and women. It is an engaging and moving defense of the working class's right to its portion of credit and dignity for building, job by dirty, demanding job, the civilization we inhabit. Here is a book George Orwell would understand--and applaud.
Review
"Theriault could be destined to become the laureate of labor." Margaret Carlin
Review
I found it extraordinary. --Robert Heilbroner
Review
"Theriault has packed this charming little primer with all the work lore and humane radicalism of the old Wobblies. . . . An often moving meditation on the meaning of work, play and class." Robert Heilbroner
Review
"I found it extraordinary." Rocky Mountain News
Synopsis
There have been untold volumes published on the nature and necessity of work, but almost none of them written by the experts: the workers themselves. Until this book. Reg Theriault, for over thirty years a longshoreman on the San Francisco waterfront, finally gives voice to the thoughts and conditions of the laboring classes from the privileged point of view of a man well used to tough manual labor. With a humorous sense of balance--and a refreshing absence of working-class cant--he examines the real world of the workplace: the constant struggle for respect and autonomy, the perennial tendency of management to treat workers as merely one part of the production process, the parallel habit of unions to bargain away precisely the wrong things, the nature of bosses, the sheer grinding tedium and danger of moving heavy objects, and the sense of accomplishment gained from doing a piece of work right.
Synopsis
"This is an absolutely wonderful book about work, our blessing and our curse. What makes it so exhilarating is that it was written, not by a cool and detached scholar, but by a working man. Eloquent and witty, it may become something of a classic."--Studs Terkel
About the Author
Reg Theriault's first job was nailing packing crates together during the California fruit harvest, followed by a long career as a fruit tramp in the western United States. Now retired from longshoring, he lives in San Francisco.