The Emergence of a UAW Local, 1936-1939: A Study in Class and Culture

Peter Friedlander documents the formation of a local United Automobile Workers union at a mid-sized parts factory during the turbulent 1930s. Blending oral history based on personal interviews with a keen analysis of the worker's class structure and widely varied cultural backgrounds, Freidlander describes the transformation of a working-class community by its own actions and the ensuing stratification and factionalizing within that union. The result is a firsthand account of the experience of unionization in personal and social terms.

“This book will be quite useful to historians interested in oral history as a research technique.”

—Choice

“Peter Friedlander’s book is the most important social analysis of American workers in the 1930s yet written.”

—David Montgomery

A firsthand account of the experience of unionization in personal and social terms. Freidlander describes the transformation of a working-class community by its own actions and the ensuing stratification within that union.

Peter Friedlander is assistant professor of sociology at Wayne State University.