Reviews for Labor's Story In The United States

The average rating for Labor's Story In The United States based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-05-10 00:00:00 Richard Adair Hmmmm 3.5 stars. What I love about this survey of US labor history is it situates union organizing in a broader history of labor, with the first chapter going back to colonial America. As such this is quite an ambitious project, and Nicholson pulls it off admirably. (At the same time, covering that much material does make it read a little like a textbook but I don't know how that would be avoided). Additionally, Nicholson is critical of the racism and sexism (and, often, the disconnect between leadership and workers) of the powerful, conservative AFL of mid twentieth century. I think it's very important that contemporary unionists not glorify the labor movement, and that we learn from the moral and strategic errors of the past. On that point, his personal feelings definitely come through. He is pretty up front about them, which is good, and I'm largely in agreement. But I would recommend that a non-historian read with a grain of salt. There are some nit picky things that I could get into that aren't of much interest to a general reader. His thesis is that labor organizing in the US made gains when it would benefit capital. I'm entirely amenable to that! I'm also not convinced by the end of the book. If you read, just know that there are valid leftist arguments against this viewpoint. Howard Zinn blurbed this book, which I think is appropriate. Like with People's History, it's a good, fairly polemical work that can leave a general audience with a political motive. It's also not the most rigorous scholarly book you can find on the topic.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-13 00:00:00 Michael Breining America: A Prophecy is the long awaited collection from the writer Robert Christgau called, "one of the funniest men in Manhattan." From a hilarious spiritual guide to New York City--written after Sparrow tried meditating at a dozen high-traffic landmarks--to the scientific and religious significance of the sky, Sparrow's unique blend of wit and wisdom gives readers a whole new way of seeing our country at the crossroads. The author of Republican Like Me, Sparrow challenged Bob Dole for the presidential nomination in 1996 and, remarkably, lost. America: A Prophecy is his follow up, a fantastical look at a country in flux by a mischievous poet and iconoclastic comedian.