A History of America in Ten Strikes

<p><strong>Recommended by <em>The Nation</em> the <em>New Republic</em> <em>Current Affairs</em> <em>Bustle</em> <em>In These Times<br><br>An entertaining tough-minded and strenuously argued (<em>The Nation</em>) account of ten moments when workers fought to change the balance of power in America<br></em><br>“A brilliantly recounted American history through the prism of major labor struggles with critically important lessons for those who seek a better future for working people and the world.” -Noam Chomsky<br></strong></p>
<p>Powerful and accessible <em>A History of America in Ten Strikes</em> challenges all of our contemporary assumptions around labor unions and American workers. In this brilliant book labor historian Erik Loomis recounts ten critical workers' strikes in American labor history that everyone needs to know about (and then provides an annotated list of the 150 most important moments in American labor history in the appendix). From the Lowell Mill Girls strike in the 1830s to Justice for Janitors in 1990 these labor uprisings do not just reflect the times in which they occurred but speak directly to the present moment.</p>
<p>For example we often think that Lincoln ended slavery by proclaiming the slaves emancipated but Loomis shows that they freed themselves during the Civil War by simply withdrawing their labor. He shows how the hopes and aspirations of a generation were made into demands at a GM plant in Lordstown in 1972. And he takes us to the forests of the Pacific Northwest in the early nineteenth century where the radical organizers known as the Wobblies made their biggest inroads against the power of bosses. But there were also moments when the movement was crushed by corporations and the government; Loomis helps us understand the present perilous condition of American workers and draws lessons from both the victories and defeats of the past.</p>
<p>In crystalline narratives labor historian Erik Loomis lifts the curtain on workers' struggles giving us a fresh perspective on American history from the boots up.</p>
<p><em>Strikes include</em>:</p>
<p>Lowell Mill Girls Strike (Massachusetts 1830-40)</p>
<p>Slaves on Strike (The Confederacy 1861–65)</p>
<p>The Eight-Hour Day Strikes (Chicago 1886)</p>
<p>The Anthracite Strike (Pennsylvania 1902)</p>
<p>The Bread and Roses Strike (Massachusetts 1912)</p>
<p>The Flint Sit-Down Strike (Michigan 1937)</p>
<p>The Oakland General Strike (California 1946)</p>
<p>Lordstown (Ohio 1972)</p>
<p>Air Traffic Controllers (1981)</p>
<p>Justice for Janitors (Los Angeles 1990)</p>