Reviews (3)

Timely Relevance
The recent implosion of the AFL-CIO with three major unions seceding has turned this fascinating historical perspective on the Building Trades Unions decline into must reading to understand current events.

Freedom in the Workplace
When I got a copy of "Freedom In The Workplace" by Samuel Cook, I put it aside thinking that it was a history of the Associated Builders and Contractors and that I would read it when I had the time.
A rare literary accomplishment with scrupulous attention to historical truth and detail
This piece of literary genius is a must read for students and workers in both the public and private sectors who value our free enterprise system.Mr. Cook, through personal and historical documentary, chronicles the many struggles faced by Americans in their quest for freedom in America; namely among our most precious freedoms...the right to work. A valuable lesson underscoring our fundamental rights under the constitution, this book provides exemplary leadership principles for those in virtually every segment of our society. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Associated Builders & Contract    2. Building trades    3. Construction Management    4. Construction industry    5. History    6. History Of Specific Companies    7. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    8. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    9. Management    10. Open and closed shop    11. Political Science    12. Politics / Current Events    13. Politics/International Relations    14. United States    15. Political Science / General   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Industrial relations    4. Labor    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    6. Politics / Current Events    7. United States    8. Business & Economics / Labor   

Reviews (12)

Extremely Interesting
This book is a fascinating account of not only union busting but a man's descent into greed.I couldn't put it down.

Tale of a True Mensch
In retrospect, this author is able to see what choices and decisions he had to make in his working life made on others; not a usual occurrence in the real world. Defeat your companies anti-union plan!
Marty is an extrordinary man who, not only through this book, is helping workers gain the right to better working conditions and benefits.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business/Economics    2. Corporations    3. Corrupt practices    4. General    5. Labor Disputes    6. Labor unions    7. Organizing    8. Politics - Current Events    9. Politics / Current Events    10. Union busting    11. United States    12. Biography: general    13. Business & Economics / General    14. Trade unions   

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: American    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    6. Plantation workers    7. Reconstruction (U.S. history,    8. Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)    9. Slave labor    10. South Carolina    11. South Carolina - Local History    12. U.S. History - Civil War And Reconstruction (1860-1877)    13. United States - 19th Century    14. United States - Reconstruction Period (1865-1877)    15. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    16. History / United States / 19th Century    17. Reconstruction--South Carolina    18. Trade unions    19. USA    20. c 1800 to c 1900   

Reviews (6)

A great historical review of the "other" civil rights movement
The authors did a great job of detailing the early childhood that shaped the future leader of the farm workers movement. They also do a great job of highlighting the trails, ups and downs of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers movement. One gets a good idea of just how bad conditions were before the movement and how much improvement has been made since the inception of the movement. It also touches the heart with the human aspect of the lives that were shackled in the old system and changed for the good with the reforms that were won. Cesar Chavez is a true humanitarian that should be mentioned with the likes of Martin Luther King and Gandhi. This is truly a must read.

Fight in the Fields
This is a book based upon the successful PBS/Sundance Film of the same name.While it has several wonderful attributes (some excellent and rare pictures), it does not stand up to the earlier work of London and Anderson in So Shall Ye Reap.In reality, this is more of a biography of Cesar Chavez than a careful review of agricultural labor history.In the end, I would buy it again/

AN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY BOOK
Okay, I'm biased.I'm the author of a mystery novel in current release that features a Latino private investigator as the protagonist, and I've been teaching in a rural California high school with a student population over 98% Hispanic for over twenty years.This biography, loaded with photographs and facts, is perfect for today.It clearly proves what an exceptional man Cesar Chavez was and what exceptional accomplishments that man achieved.If you have any interest in the real America, you have to read this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. General    6. Historical - U.S.    7. History    8. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    9. Labor leaders    10. Mexican American migrant agricultural laborers    11. Migrant agricultural laborers    12. Regional Subjects - West    13. Trade-unions    14. United States   

Reviews (3)

Excellent book on the downward spiral of a once mighty company
I worked for Bethlehem Steel during the latter time period that this book covers and I knew some of the players Strohmeyer mentioned.No one could have better described the times and circumstances that brought down this mammoth company as well this book did.Unfortunately, Strohmeyer died before the bitter end of Bethlehem Steel and so was not able to chronicle it's dying moments.At 99 years old, Bethlehem ceased to exist on December 31, 2003.The company's plants and other assets were either donated to a historical society or purchased at pennnies on the dollar by International Steel Group, a newly formed steel company which successfully revived several bankrupt steel companies and merged them together into a cohesive business.International Steel Group was subsequently purchased by Mittal Steel of the Netherlands and designated Mittal Steel USA. The old Bethlehem plants continue to operate under the new owner.This book is a fascinating, easy to read chronicle of corporate blundering so profound that one wonders how the company lasted for nearly a century.Sadly, even in its last days, Bethlehem managers simply couldn't fathom the drastic changes that were needed to save the company.

A Sad Story... and a personal one.
Bethlehem Steel is a huge part of my family history.My mother, father and both of their fathers all were employed for many years by this once-great company.Complacency seems too mild a word for what ailed this company. This book documents the fall of Bethlehem Steel [inventor of the H-beam... predecessor to the I-beam necessary for many of the tall buildings and skyscrapers we have today].I really like this book but I am probably biased as I grew up in Baltimore, MD and Bethelehem, PA.Billy Joel even wrote a song about the influence of this company [not a pretty picture] in his song "Allentown".There's a lot of history here and a lot of explanation for why I had to leave all my childhood friends behind when the company started falling apart.

A Must-Read for US Industries - Now We Need an Epilogue
This was a fascinating page-turner, written by someone who was intimately familiar with Bethlehem Steel because he lived in its home town for decades, serving as the editor of the local paper. One of the best non-fiction (I almost didn't qualify this statement with that word) books I've read in a long time. Now that The Steel is gone forever, I'd love to be able to persuade Mr. Strohmeyer to write a companion volume to this one telling us just how the end came, in the same detailed analytic manner. We might be able to learn from others' mistakes. The failure of this once great company is a tragedy and is a sad example of what happens when American labor, management, and government all become too arrogant and complacent. Bye-bye profits. Bye-bye jobs. What's next? Bye-bye national defense? If steel was The Basic Industry, then everyone working in industrial America needs to read this book. Sooner or later, you'll probably deal with some of the issues raised here. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bethlehem    2. Bethlehem Steel Corporation    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Corporate & Business History - Strategies    5. History    6. Iron and steel workers    7. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    8. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    9. Labor unions    10. Pennsylvania    11. Political Science    12. Politics/International Relations    13. Steel Industry (Economic Aspects)    14. Steel industry and trade    15. United States    16. Industrial relations    17. Iron, steel & metals industries    18. USA    19. Work & labour   

Reviews (5)

Illuminating
Illuminating look at the changing face of America's former national pastime and its recent growth around the globe. The research, which includes material on baseball in Italy, Germany and the UK, as well as the usual suspects, is impressive.

a big winner
This book by Alan Klein, the leading authority on the social science of baseball, may be his best (he is also the author of Sugarball, and Baseball on the Border).In Growing the Game he unravels MLB's efforts to expand baseball outside the U.S. Lucid and engaging.Perfect for my Sport, Culture and Society course.

Best book on the subject...
We know how impressive Japan and the Dominican Republic are as baseball playing countries, but Klein goes way beyond that in showing us the rest of the world.This book really gives us a way to look at baseball and globalization.Must reading for baseball fans.
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Subjects:  1. Baseball    2. Baseball - General    3. Baseball - History    4. Economic aspects    5. General    6. Globalization    7. History - General History    8. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    9. Sports    10. Sports & Recreation    11. Sports and globalization    12. History / General    13. USA   

Reviews (2)

AMAZING, COLOSSAL, STUPENDOUS, and it's fun, too!
This is not your typical university press book.
Stories, stories, stories...
The really wonderful thing about this book isn't the incredible facts about events that led up to our current state of affairs in the post-production world of motion picture making, it isn't the inside view from the old-timers of animation -- Yes, those are all wonderful things to have within a book on the animation world, but it is the prose of Tom Sito that makes this book sing!
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Subjects:  1. Animation    2. Animators    3. Cinema/Film: Book    4. Film & Video - History & Criticism    5. History    6. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    7. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    8. Labor unions    9. Performing Arts    10. Politics / Current Events    11. United States    12. Cinema industry    13. Trade unions    14. USA   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Constitutions    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: American    6. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    7. Labor unions    8. United States    9. United States - General    10. American history: from c 1900 -    11. Economic history    12. Political Science / Constitutions    13. Trade unions    14. USA   

Reviews (1)

An important and influential book. Highly recommended!
United Mind Workers is a very stimulating and important book. It is the first book to discuss how to organize teachers and their work differently, and the first book to capture the attention of both major American teachers unions. Already widely influential, it seems destined to play a major role in the current reform movement. I highly recommend it to all interested in the improvement of American education. -- William Boyd, Penn State University ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Collective Bargaining In Education    2. Collective bargaining    3. Education    4. Education / Teaching    5. General    6. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    7. School personnel management    8. Teachers    9. Teachers' unions    10. Teaching Methods & Materials - General    11. Teaching Personnel    12. United States    13. Education / General    14. Educational systems    15. Philosophy of education    16. Teaching skills & techniques    17. Trade unions   

Reviews (2)

Do you really want to escape?
Sal Si Puedes, by Peter Matthiessen, is an excellent chronicle of the adult life of the farm workers' revolutionary, Cesar Chavez. This Biography written by Matthiessen is from the day he meets Chavez to the time he passed away in 1992. Chavez was a activist for the rights of all farm workers, and believed that union representation was not only a privilege, but a right of all workers. With the installment of the Bracero program, non American people brought into the united states were allowed to work in the fields, because Lobbyists in Washington were successfully able to determine that no American was willing to do the back breaking manual labor of picking and harvesting the fields in California.This book was simply put, is the best book that I have read in my young adult life. Sal Si Puedes means Escape If You Can
Am forever indebted to my mentor Bea Brickey for getting me involved with the United Farm Worker union locally, and for instilling in me the importance of getting involved and living by Christ's motto that what you do to the least of them you do to Christ.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1927-    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Chavez, Cesar,    7. Ethnic Cultures - General    8. Farmers & Ranchers    9. Historical - General    10. History    11. Labor leaders    12. Mexican American agricultural laborers    13. Mexican Americans    14. Regional Subjects - West    15. United States    16. Biography: political    17. California    18. Chavez, Cesar    19. Ethnic studies    20. Political Science / General    21. Trade unions   

Reviews (1)

A revolutionary trade union in action
This book, written by the leader of the 1934 Teamsters strikes, and the man who organized the first national organizing drive of over-the-road truckers, Farrell Dobbs, outlines the real life struggle of the Minneapolis Teamsters to maintain their union and build others.Politics meant not supporting Democratic and Republican "friends of labor," but fighting for independent working class candidates and a labor party. Politics meant the union reaching out to align itself with the unemployed, with women fighting for their rights, and with the small farmers.
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Subjects:  1. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    2. Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies    3. Trade unions    4. USA   

Subjects:  1. Austin    2. Business & Economics    3. Business/Economics    4. Employment Of Women    5. Geo. A. Hormel & Company Strike, Austin, Minn., 1985-86    6. Interviews    7. Labor    8. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    9. Labor Disputes    10. Minnesota    11. Politics - Current Events    12. Politics / Current Events    13. Sociology    14. Women labor union members    15. Women political activists    16. Business & Economics / Labor    17. Labour economics    18. Trade unions    19. USA    20. Women's studies    21. Work & labour    22. c 1980 to c 1990   

Reviews (1)

Interesting for both union insiders and non-unionists
This is another labor community insider book directed toward labor union leaders and their strategists and written by the same. The motivation is the reversal of the sagging fortunes of labor unions. Many of thearticles focus on the need for grassroots activity by existing unionmembers and community supporters. Several union campaigns utilizing membersare examined in detail. Union support organizations such as the GarmentWomen Justice Center are described. Serveral articles examine subtleties ofthe motivations of non-unionists to vote for a union. An interestingobservation is that white collar and technical workers are turned off bythe potential for conflict when joining a union, which is interesting inlight of the fact that unions have always relied on confrontation as theirtool of last resort. The main point of the editors is that uniontactics and actions make a large difference in organizing success. Thesecond point is that unions must remake themselves into organizing bodiesand avail themselves of the wisdom contained in these articles. But fornon-union insiders reading this book, many chinks appear when looking atthe articles in totality. For example, one article shows that belonging totwo community organiztions lowers the desire to join a union, yet manyarticles tout labor-community coalitions. In one case where communityconnections were leveraged to the fullest to win a union contract, it isadmitted that may have been a one-time occurrence. A large andconfusing point that leaps out from these articles is, just what is aunion. Is it a centralized business that collects fees from subsidiaries,demands adherence to policies from the CEO, and provides services? Or is aunion a legally recognized association of workers at a locale thataffiliates with a national body but retains sovereignty? Statements thatworkers "are" the union hide more than they reveal. If workersare the union, can they insist that national unions remain committed to aservicing model? If workers are the union, how can some national unionsliterally require local unions to focus on recruitment? Claiming thatworkers are the union can be a demotivator for joining a union. After all,it is workers who have unsuccessfully dealt with employers on their ownthat want to join unions; now they want support, not abandonment. Theeditors and authors may complain that this book is not about "what isa union," but is only about subtle strategy. If so, they need to put a"Nonunionists need not read" label on the cover. Actually thebook is worth reading by all interested in the situation of labor not onlyon its educational merits but also for the questions that it can engenderfor non-insiders. Who knows, maybe their next book can be "What is aUnion." ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Congresses    3. Industrial And Labor Relations    4. Labor    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    6. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    7. Labor unions    8. Organizing    9. Political Science    10. Sociology    11. United States    12. Pressure groups & lobbying    13. Trade unions    14. USA    15. Work & labour   

Reviews (1)

Important book to read
This is the only book written to date about the important story of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes. Though this book gives a fictionalized account of their story, it will give you a notion of what their story is about. Their story and the story of the struggle to uncover the truth of what happened to them is one of dedication to justice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - Southeast Asia    2. Cannery workers    3. Employment    4. Employment Of Minorities (General)    5. Ethnic Cultures - General    6. Filipino Americans    7. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    8. Labor Unions    9. Murder - General    10. Politics - Current Events    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Seattle    13. True Crime    14. United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)    15. Viernes, Gene,    16. Washington (State)    17. d. 1981    18. American English    19. Domingo, Silme    20. Ethnic Cultures    21. Modern fiction    22. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    23. United States - 20th Century (1945 to present)   

Reviews (1)

a great introduction to the American labor movement
In this book, Fantasia and Voss--two long-time, respected labor scholars--provide a great overview of and introduction to the American labor movement. The book was actually originally written for a French audience, so they assume you know very little about the American labor movement, explaining things like the National Labor Relations Board and the Taft-Hartley Act, instead of assuming you know about them. They also at times contrast the American labor movement with those in Eruope, which is also frequently illuminating.
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Subjects:  1. Americas (North Central South West Indies)    2. Ethnic Studies - General    3. History    4. History: American    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    6. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    7. Labor movement    8. Labor unions    9. Management    10. Politics / Current Events    11. Social aspects    12. United States    13. History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies)    14. Sociology, Social Studies    15. The Americas    16. USA   

Editorial Review

Does anyone still look for the union label? Apparently not, to gauge historian Nelson Lichtenstein's history of the rise, heyday, and long decline of labor unions in America.Read more

Reviews (4)

The Changing Face of Unions and Society
Nelson Lichtenstein's work titled, State of The Union: A Century of American Labor, provides an historical overview of the laws, people, and times in the American labour movement.In producing his research, Lichtenstein contextualizes (with a few glaring omissions) his discussion of the rise and decline of labor unions in the psyche of the American worker and companies alike.By starting his discussion with the period from the Great Depression through World War I, Lichtenstein provides a frame within which to place events, and accompanying mindsets, that developed from both a legal/legislative and social-change perspective. Additionally, in moving through the waxing and waning moments between the end of WWII and the Civil Rights Movement to the current living wage initiative, he presents a respectable work as to the elements that facilitated the decline in significance of unions in post-deindustrialization America; an institution which he strongly and convincingly argues is in need of a rebirth.
Do unions have a future?
The backdrop for "State of the Union" is the "labor question" that the author finds Progressive Era reformers confronting. They regarded the disproportionate power that corporate capitalism wielded relative to citizens and workers as unjustifiable in a democratic society. Changes in workplaces were most troublesome. Skilled workers were bypassed by work-simplifying machinery, an autocratic foreman system enforced Taylorism, or speed-up, and wages hovered at subsistence levels. But American workers, drawing upon a republican legacy, seized upon the WWI rallying cry of making the world safe for democracy to insist that industrial democracy be established within workplaces. Even President Woodrow Wilson recognized "the right of those who work, in whatever rank, to participate in some organic way in every decision which directly affects their welfare." Interestingly, the author does not take note of the fact that Wilson's call for workers' participation did not mention unions. But it is the relationship of unions to this "labor question" and to the notion of industrial democracy that most concerns Lichtenstein. A fine study of the crisis of American labor
Nelson Lichtenstein's Sate of the Union is a superb study of the current crisis of American labor.If it is not as finely researched or as densely rewarding as his biography of Walter Reuther or Steve Fraser's biography of Sidney Hillman, it is an excellent introduction to the problem and to possible solutions.Lichtenstein demonstrates the vital necessity of trade unions.The average wage of American young families stands at only two-thirds of the their counterparts in 1973, "even though their total working hours were longer and the educational level of the head of th ehousehold higher than a generation before.In the first years of the new century median wages and family incomes were still below their 1989 level." In the decline of civic committment and political life, the untramelled sway of corporate hegemony, the failure to confront health insurance, public transportation, and childcare in the United States and basic civil liberties in much of our brave new globalized world, the decline of American trade unionism truly is an injury to all.Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - U.S.    3. History: American    4. United States - 20th Century    5. American History    6. History / United States / 20th Century    7. Political Science and International Relations    8. Trade unions    9. USA   

Reviews (3)

A Poor History of the Labor Movement
While the book reveals Jacobs knowledge of organized crime, the book does not provide evidence of the real struggles of workers who had benefited through their self-activity.This one sided book shows how the mob infiltrates unions but does not provide significant evidence of worker resistance to criminal activity in unions.The book is therefore more about organized crime and union raccateers rather than organized crime and union organizations.Why are unions singled out as the font of criminal action when so many other organizations are susceptible to mob influence?It is patently false to argue that union members are not interested in the affairs of unions.This argument is the equivalent of saying tht workers don't like unions, when they in fact are the primary forces in forming them.True, some union leaders are corrupt, but today we are finding a resurgence of rank-and-file local leaders who are not corrupt.Though Jacobs contends he is not anti-union, his book is certainly anti-worker.The book provides no adequate prescription for resolving the problem that he sees so endemic to unions.The book suffers from inadequate knowledge of the trajectory of labor history in the U.S. and an obsession with organized crime.Moreover, we cannot equate unions writ large with the broader labor movement that includes organized and unorganized workers.

An inside look at who has talken the American worker hostage.
Jacobs' research has been diligent as evidenced by this inspired, spell binding, page turner. He takes the reader inside the American workers' unions and shows how the workers have been taken hostage by the mob. This is a MUST read for anyone who cares about the American worker!

An amazing piece of work
Like the cliff notes to racketeering, this book submerses the reader in the core aspects of organized crime, how if has afflicated the United States and the history of labor and government's moves to resist it. A truly splendid piece of work by the Warren E Berger professor. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Criminology    2. General    3. History    4. Labor    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    6. Labor unions    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Mafia    9. Organized Crime    10. Racketeering    11. Social Science    12. Sociology    13. True Crime / Espionage    14. United States    15. United States - 20th Century    16. United States - General   

Reviews (2)

To work with dignity
This is not "Capitalism in America". It is not "Management in America". If you can accept the focus on labor and the concerns for labor, this may be a useful book for you.
a world of knowledge
an absoulty amazing book covering America's labor struggle from the begining to current day. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. General    3. History    4. Labor    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - Unions    6. Labor unions    7. Politics / Current Events    8. United States    9. Working class    10. Economic history    11. Labour economics    12. USA   

Reviews (2)

Beating the odds: A REAL American success story
The story of Cesar Chavez is one of a little guy beating the odds and winning.But it's not a typical American dream, rags-to-riches story.The foe that Chavez beat was systematic racist and economic oppression, and the uphill victory he finally achieved was justice.Chavez's great contribution was to show in his life and words that there are more powerful things than money and the power that money buys.Love, mutual respect, cooperation and community, a commitment to nonviolence, and a deep religious faith that affirms the dignity of all humans made in the likeness of God:these are the weapons that Chavez used, and they're what kept the movement he founded from becoming just another corrupt trade union.