Synopses & Reviews
The only biography of musician, IWW labor activist, and martyr Joe Hill to fully explore his politics and cultural contributions as well as his lasting effect on the radical counterculture
This expansive work covers the life, times, and culture of that most famous member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or “Wobblies”—songwriter, poet, hobo, thinker, humorist, martyr—Joe Hill. Many aspects of the life and lore of Joe Hill receive their first and only discussion in IWW historian Franklin Rosemont’s opus. In great detail, the issues that Joe Hill raised and grappled with in his life: capitalism, white supremacy, gender, religion, wilderness, law, prison, and industrial unionism are shown in both the context of Hill’s life and for their enduring relevance in the century since his death. Collected too is Joe Hill’s art, plus scores of other images featuring Hill-inspired art by IWW illustrators. As Rosemont suggests in this remarkable book, Joe Hill never really died as he lives in the minds of rebels as long as his songs are sung, his ideas are circulated, and his political descendants keep fighting for a better day.
Review
“Rosemont seems to have hunted down every available detail of Hill’s short life and abiding legend.” —Los Angeles Times
Review
“Joe Hill has finally found a chronicler worthy of his revolutionary spirit, sense of humor, and poetic imagination.” —Robin D. G. Kelley, author, Freedom Dreams
Review
“Rosemont’s treatment of Joe Hill is passionate, polemical, and downright entertaining. What he gives us is an extended and detailed argument for considering both Hill and the IWW for their contributions toward creating an autonomous and uncompromising alternative culture.” —Gordon Simmons, Labor Studies Journal
Synopsis
A monumental work, expansive in scope, covering the life, times, and culture of that most famous of the Wobblies--songwriter, poet, hobo, thinker, humorist, martyr--Joe Hill. It is a journey into the Wobbly culture that made Hill and the capitalist culture that killed him. Many aspects of the life and lore of Joe Hill receive their first and only discussion in IWW historian Franklin Rosemont's opus.
In great detail, the issues that Joe Hill raised and grappled with in his life: capitalism, white supremacy, gender, religion, wilderness, law, prison, and industrial unionism are shown in both the context of Hill's life and for their enduring relevance in the century since his death.
Collected too is Joe Hill's art, plus scores of other images featuring Hill-inspired art by IWW illustrators from Ralph Chaplin to Carlos Cortez, as well as contributions from many other labor artists.
As Rosemont suggests in this remarkable book, Joe Hill never really died. He lives in the minds of young (and old) rebels as long as his songs are sung, his ideas are circulated, and his political descendants keep fighting for a better day.
About the Author
Franklin Rosemont was a poet, an artist, and an activist who was involved in the history of surrealism and the radical labor movement in the United States. He is the author of An Open Entrance to the Shut Palace of Wrong Numbers and several collections of poetry and the editor of several books, including What Is Surrealism? Selected Writings of Andre Breton. He was the cofounder of the Chicago Surrealist Group. David Roediger is a professor of American studies and history at Kansas University. He is the author of How Race Survived U.S. History and The Wages of Whiteness and the coauthor of Our Own Time: A History of American Labor and the Working Day. His articles have appeared in Against the Current, History Workshop Journal, New Left Review, the Progressive, and Radical History Review. He lives in Chicago.