Synopses & Reviews
• Choice 1988 Outstanding Academic Book
• Named one of the Best Business Books of 1988 by USA Today
A veteran reporter of American labor analyzes the spectacular and tragic collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s. John Hoerr’s account of these events stretches from the industrywide barganing failures of 1982 to the crippling work stoppage at USX (U.S. Steel) in 1986-87. He interviewed scores of steelworkers, company managers at all levels, and union officials, and was present at many of the crucial events he describes. Using historical flashbacks to the origins of the steel industry, particularly in the Monongahela Valley of southwestern Pennsylvania, he shows how an obsolete and adversarial relationship between management and labor made it impossible for the industry to adapt to shattering changes in the global economy.
Review
"A fascinating account of USX's turnabout, during the '70s and '80s, from the union's staunchest ally to its most intransigent foe, and the steelworkers' struggle to redefine their place in a divided industry."
—New York Times Book Review
Review
"An enormous labor of love, John Hoerr's book comprehensively chronicles a national tragedy."
—The Nation
Review
"One of the most important books on labor or business to appear in recent times."
—Choice
Review
"Hoerr's exhaustive study of the decline of the steel industry, particularly in the Monongahela Valley, is essential reading."
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Synopsis
This book reveals more about steel and some of its management and union personalities than has ever been written. It provides an intimate look at cause and effect in the decline of one of America's great basic industries, and it shows the importantance of steel's labor relations experience to the country as a whole.
Synopsis
A veteran reporter on American labor, John P. Hoerr analyzes the spectacular and tragic collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s. And the Wolf Finally Came demonstrates how an obsolete and adversarial relationship between management and labor made it impossible for the industry to adapt to a rapidly changing global economy.
About the Author
"A fascinating account of USX's turnabout, during the '70s and '80s, from the union's staunchest ally to its most intransigent foe, and the steelworkers' struggle to redefine their place in a divided industry."
—New York Times Book Review"An enormous labor of love, John Hoerr's book comprehensively chronicles a national tragedy."
—The Nation
"One of the most important books on labor or business to appear in recent times."
—Choice
"Hoerr's exhaustive study of the decline of the steel industry, particularly in the Monongahela Valley, is essential reading."
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette