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jpowerj's review
5.0
It's somewhere between 4 and 5 stars tbh, but I went with 5 because the tiebreaker here is that it has an absurd number of great references to studies of particular labor-related issues. I ended up getting about 20 new books culled from these references. I think it does quite a good job of outlining the particular issues that unions in the US have faced over the past 100 years, though admittedly tons of nuances/details are glossed over (hence the references). As other reviewers have mentioned, a major thrust of the book is the presentation at the end of a "where to go from here" for the labor movement. It's funny though, because as a radical I actually found that to be the most bland part of the book, in that it advocates labor constituting a left wing of the Democratic party (meh) and forgetting about pushing for a shorter workweek (more reasonable IMO, but still somewhat meh). In all though, for radicals, I think this is an extremely important book for its historical content, even if we may come to different conclusions in the end.
aarononeseven's review against another edition
3.0
Works better for somebody who already has a decent grasp of labor history and politics. Not great for beginners.
jenna0010's review
4.0
Lichtenstein's history of American unionism and labour politics is rigorous, thorough, yet highly readable and engaging. Good stuff indeed.
stanl's review
4.0
A provocative interpretive work enhanced by reading other general overviews such as Robert Zieger's & Gilbert Gall's AMERICAN WORKERS, AMERICAN UNIONS (3rd ed.)
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