Class War : USA dispatches from workers' struggles in American history.

Weber, Brandon.

ISBN 10: 160846847X / ISBN 13: 9781608468478

Published by Haymarket Books, 2018

About this Item

Edited and translated by Ben Lewis. Chicago, IL : Haymarket Books, 2018. Paperback. x,152 pp. b/w illustrations, - Class War, USA is a rich collection of stories about ordinary people who resisted oppression and exploitation against all odds. Brandon Weber's succinct and vivid essays capture crucial moments of struggle when working-class people built movements of hope and defiance. Evocative imagery, archival photographs, and descriptive text make history come alive in these pages. From the mines to the factories to the fields, Weber shares the experiences of the real-life men and women who organized, heroically resisted, and battled the bosses and corrupt politicians. In the spirit of A People's History of the United States, this book conveys engaging and accessible narratives of ordinary people who led labor struggles that have indelibly shaped American history. Contents : 1. Joe Hill -- Labor's Best-Known Songwriter Refused to be Buried in the State of Utah -- 2. Lowell, Massachusetts -- America's Very First Union of Working Women -- 3. Atlanta Washerwomen's Strike -- African American Women with the Power to Call a General Strike -- in 1881 -- 4. Pullman -- Former Slaves Were Hired to Staff Pullman Box Cars Because They "Knew How to Be Servile" So They Formed a Union -- 5. Chicago -- Haymarket Massacre of 1886 and the Pullman Strike of 1894: Chicago Was the Center of Both Struggles, and Things Got White-Hot -- 6. Eugene Debs -- Carnegies and Rockefellers Tried to Silence Debs with Jail Time. That Didn't Stop Him -- 7. Colorado's Mining Frontier -- Cripple Creek, 1894, and Ludlow, 1913: Two Very Different Battles, and Both Were Shocking -- 8. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire -- One Hundred Twenty-Three Young Women Who Went to Work One Day in a New York Factory Never Came Home. It Changed Our Country Forever -- 9. Christmas Eve, 1913 -- Fifty-Nine Children Died on Christmas Eve, 1913, and It Broke Hearts Around the World -- 10. Christmas Truce -- These Soldiers Were Thought to Be Enemies, but They Played Soccer and Celebrated Christmas Eve, 1914, Together -- 11. Battle of Blair Mountain -- It Ended When Federal Troops Were Called Against Thirteen Thousand Miners. It Was "Civil War in the Hills" -- 12. Tulsa, Oklahoma -- Ever Heard of "Black Wall Street"? There's a Reason You Might Not Have -- 13. Bonus Army -- Great Depression Left WWI Vets with the Short End of the Stick. They Weren't Going to Sit Back and Take It -- 14. Minneapolis General Strike of 1934 -- It Began with Truck Drivers Who Wanted a Union. They Became Teamsters -- 15. Sitting Down, Striking Flint -- These Images Might Look Like Some Lazy Workers, Up to No Good, but They're Actually Heroes -- 16. Battle of the Overpass -- PR Disaster for Ford Motor Company that Kick-Started the UAW -- 17. "Rosie the Riveter" -- Remember the "Rosie the Riveter" Image Pretty Much Everybody Knows? (Ahem) -- 18. United Farmworkers -- That Time When 14 Million Americans Stopped Eating Grapes, Because Farmworkers Asked Them To -- 19. Stonewall Rebellion -- Civil Rights Battle for the Times -- 20. Wildcat -- In 1970, Postal Workers Suddenly Walked off the Job. The Nation, the Union, and Even President Nixon Were Caught by Surprise -- 21. Attica -- What Actually Happened at Attica in 1971 Is Still Largely Kept Hidden -- but Clues and Facts Are Coming Out Even Now -- 22. Watsonville, California, Cannery Strike -- This Is What Solidarity Looks Like -- 23. Ups -- Those Packages Won't Move Themselves: Big Brown Versus the IBT -- 24. Fight for $15 -- Long Game, and Why It's Part of Labor's Future -- 25. Woody Guthrie -- Why Several Verses of "This Land Is Your Land" Are Usually Left Off When It's Taught in School. Condition : as new copy. ISBN 9781608468478. Keywords : SOCIALISM, philosophy of law.

Seller Inventory # 295873

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Class War : USA dispatches from workers' struggles in American history.
• Publisher: Haymarket Books
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 160846847X
• ISBN 13: 9781608468478
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: as new

About this title

Synopsis

Class War, USA is a rich collection of stories about ordinary people who resisted oppression and exploitation against all odds. Brandon Weber's succinct and vivid essays capture crucial moments of struggle when working-class people built movements of hope and defiance. Evocative imagery, archival photographs, and descriptive text make history come alive in these pages. 

From the mines to the factories to the fields, Weber shares the experiences of the real-life men and women who organized, heroically resisted, and battled the bosses and corrupt politicians. In the spirit of A People’s History of the United States, this book conveys engaging and accessible narratives of ordinary people who led labor struggles that have indelibly shaped American history.

Essays include vivid accounts of resistance in the workplace like the Ludlow miner’s strike and organizing at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, as well as broader pieces on cultural figures like Woody Guthrie, Black Wall Street in Tulsa, OK, and the fight for the eight-hour day.

An invaluable tool for learning the lessons of grassroots struggle, Class War, USA is the perfect counter-narrative to the myth that change comes only from the top, and will appeal to students of history and labor activists alike.

Brandon Weber has written for The Progressive, Upworthy, Big Think, and many other online publications, and has been a union activist for over 30 years. His has also written for The Progressive Magazine, Common Dreams, Good.Is and Liberals Unite. 

About the Author

Brandon Weber (1963-2020) wrote for the online news site Upworthy, where he wrote extensively on labor history and current events.