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aoosterwyk's review against another edition
5.0
A tremendously readable book about the history of US unions, strikes, and the people who made them happen. I will be purchasing a copy for my high school library.
cam_wash24's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
lindsayb's review against another edition
3.0
The reader isn't great on the audio...so many strange mispronunciations. I love Kim Kelly, though this book was maybe too broad for me. I think I'll dive into individual union histories in the future.
jilllightner's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
Best book on the history of organized labor I've read yet. Approachable, non-academic language, lifts up the stories of people excluded by the more widely known early unions. Glad I read this.
benplatt's review against another edition
4.0
A wide-reaching, approachable overview of some of labor’s victories and failures with an eye toward curating a history of the American working class that is defined by its optimism. Kelly’s overview of the labor movement depicts a struggle that no matter how many times it gets knocked down, learns from its mistakes and comes back stronger. Amidst the current upsurge of labor activity in the United States, that can be an encouraging history to read and learn from, although because of this book’s expansive scope, it is necessarily broader than it is deep. This is a solid jumping-off point on some of the labor organizing that has occurred across a variety of industries, including some outside the traditional scope of labor journalism. The book’s optimism doesn’t resonate with me, and I find myself wishing for a deeper examination of the many failures that organized labor in the United State has suffered in order to learn not just from labor’s successes, but also its shortcomings. But this book isn’t meant to be a particularly deep study of any single organizing event! It’s a broad primer covering some of the labor fights that have occurred on American soil and it does a good job introducing a reader to this history.
scarophen's review against another edition
5.0
Untold and rare stories of the unsung heroes of the labor movement.
thegoodmariner's review against another edition
Boy, was this a miss for me. I didn't want it to be, but it definitely was.