Harvey and Jessie: A Couple of Radicals - Hardcover

O'Connor, Harvey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0877225192 ISBN 13: 9780877225195

Publisher: Temple University Press, 1988

Synopsis

Book by O'Connor, Harvey

About this title

Review

"This joint autobiography offers vivid first-hand reportage of numerous political events... The duo's best moments occurred during the McCarthy era when they...challenged the House Committee on Un-American Activities." --Publishers Weekly "Wobblies in the Northwest woods, the 1919 Seattle General Strike, Pittsburgh and the MelIons, the Soviet Union, even Cuba and Central America: Jessie and Harvey O'Connor have covered them all as crusading socialist labor journalists. For the general reader curious about labor, the left, journalism, dual careers, and social history. --Library Journal "A marvelous joint autobiography of 'a couple of radicals' engaged in some memorable workers' struggles of this century Their account of individual experiences and shared history contains much value for today's militants of all ages. Their story should not be passed up." --The Guardian "This story, rich in anecdotes deftly winnowed by historian-editor Susan M. Bowler is a big help. Through Harvey and Jessie, we glimpse the Complete American Radical without protective coloration, and we realize that all forecasts of the critter's demise have been greatly exaggerated." --Paul Buhle, In These Times "I cannot think of two Americans who have led more worthwhile lives than Harvey and Jessie O'Connor. Their story is really a saga of dissenters in the best American tradition." --Studs Terkel "Anyone who knows these two extraordinary people can only marvel at their long lives so continually involved in the events of the day. Malvina Reynolds wrote a song about the 'Good Ship O'Connor'--and, in a real sense, through this book it will sail forever." --Pete Seeger

From Publishers Weekly

This joint autobiography offers vivid firsthand reportage of numerous political eventsthe Seattle general strike of 1919, Wobbly labor agitation in Northwest logging camps, early Bolshevik experiments in women's rights, union protest in Pittsburgh steelyards, witch hunts of the McCarthy era. Harvey O'Connor was a labor journalist for Federated Press in 1929 when he married Jessie Lloyd, herself a journalist and the daughter of a Midwestern millionaire. Their story is unpretentiously told in alternating chapters with an assist from Bowler, a freelance writer. Jessie's tone is feisty: "I've never seen a riot that the police didn't start." Harvey, who wrote for the Daily Worker, is unrepentant about his support for Stalinism throughout the '30s. The duo's best moments occurred during the McCarthy era when they defended civil liberties and outspokenly challenged the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0877225192
• ISBN 13: 9780877225195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 259