Selected Bibliography for a Public Library Labor Studies Collection
Labor History is American History! Labor Studies is for every library!
Updated & Revised for Labor History Month 2000!
While most public libraries, even the smallest, give serious attention to their business collections and their business users, few pay equal attention to the interests of organized and unorganized workers, their history and their issues. May, Labor History Month, is the perfect occasion to focus on collection development in this important, but virtually invisible, area in many of our libraries.
This list represents a selection of Labor History and Labor Studies titles suitable for most public library collections. Although the subject is international, the general focus here is on the U.S. workers' movements. Annotations are included only when they are necessary to elucidate the subject matter. All titles are in print, except where noted, and can generally be obtained through your usual sources. A few, also noted, can be direct-ordered from the publisher. Prices are not listed, but consideration has been given to affordability for the average public library, and paperback ISBNs are frequently provided. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list — although it seems to be growing every time it is revised! Some "classics" are omitted because they are out-of-print and/or very difficult to obtain; the author has obviously also made choices among recent works.
Publicize new acquisitions to your local unions, community organizations, schools and the Central Labor Council in your area! Have a labor film festival! Make a bookmark with new titles! Write a press release highlighting them. Display them during Labor History Month! Feel free to link to this page!
Reference
Buhle, Mari Jo, Paul Buhle & Dan Georgakas, editors. Encyclopedia of the American Left, Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 1998 0-19-512088-4.
Craft, Donna & Terrance W. Peck, editors. Profiles of American Labor Unions. Gale Research, 1998. ISBN:0-8103-9059-0.
Directory of U.S. Labor Organizations. Annual. Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), Washington, DC. ISSN: 0734-6786
Foner, Philip S. First Facts of American Labor. Holmes & Meier, 1984. ISBN: 0-8419-0742-0.
Filippelli, Ronald. Labor Conflict in the United States: An Encyclopedia. Garland, 1990. ISBN:0-8240-7968-X. OP, but worth the trouble of acquiring through OP sources.
Jacobs, Eve. Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics: Employment Earnings, Prices, Productivity and Other Labor Data. Bernan Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-89059-062-1, pbk.
Leab, Daniel J. & Philip P. Mason, editors. Labor History Archives in the United States: A Guide for Researching and Teaching. Wayne State University Press, 1992. ISBN:0-8143-2389-8
Murray, R. Emmett. The Lexicon of Labor. New Press, 1998. ISBN: 1-56584-456-4
Taylor, Paul F. The ABC-CLIO Companion to the American Labor Movement. ABC-CLIO, 1993. ISBN:0-87436-687-9
Zaniello, Tom. Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds and Riffraff: An Organized Guide to Films About Labor. ILR Press, Cornell University, 1996. ISBN: 0-87546-353-3, pbk.
General Labor History
American Social History Project. Who Built America? Working People & the Nation's Economy, Politics, Culture & Society. Pantheon, 1992. Vol.1, ISBN: 0-679-72699-3, pbk.; Vol. 2, ISBN: 0-679-73022-2, pbk.
Baxandall, Rosalyn & Linda Gordon, editors. America's Working Women: A Documentary History, 1600 to the Present. Revised edition. W.W. Norton, 1995. 0-393-31262-3, pbk.
Bernhardt, Debra & Rachel Bernstein. Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: A Pictorial History of Working People in New York City. NYU Press, 2000. ISBN: 0-8147-9866-7.
Boyer, Richard O. & Herbert M. Morais. Labor's Untold Story. Third Edition, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, 1988. ISBN: 0-916180-01-8, pbk. Available from the United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers, Pittsburgh, (412)-471-8919.
Brecher, Jeremy. Strike! Revised Edition, South End Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-89608-569-4, pbk.
Brody, David. In Labor's Cause: Main themes on the History of the American Worker. Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN:0-19-506791-6.
Buhle, Paul. Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor. Monthly Review Press, 1999. ISBN:1-58367-003-3.
Foner, Philip & Ronald Lewis, editor. Black Workers: A Documentary History From Colonial Times to the Present. Temple University Press, 1989. ISBN: 0-87722-554-0.
Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Ten volume set, recently reissued in paper from International Publishers, New York City. Inquire directly from the publisher at 212-366-9816. Email: service@intpubnyc.com.
Freeman, Joshua B. Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II. New Press, 2000. ISBN: 1-56584-575-7.
Goldfield, Michael. The Color of Politics: Race and the Mainsprings of American Politics. (Examines how racism impacts US working class history.) New Press, 1997. ISBN:1-56584-325-8.
Green, James. R. The World of the Worker: Labor in Twentieth Century America. University of Illinois Press, 1998 (reprint). ISBN:0-25206-734-7.
Gutman, Herbert G. Power & Culture: Essays on the American Working Class. New Press, 1987. ISBN: 1-56584-010-0, pbk.
Hobsbawm, Eric. Uncommon People: Resistance, Rebellion, and Jazz. Essays by the eminent English labor historian. New Press, 1998. ISBN:1-56584-466-1.
Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family from Slavery to the Present. Random House, 1986. 0-394-74536-1, pbk.
Jones, Jacqueline. American Work: Four Centuries of Black and White Labor. W.W. Norton & Co., 1997. ISBN: 0-393-04561-7.
Kessler-Harris, Alice. Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States. Oxford University Press, 1983. ISBN: 0-19503-353-1, pbk.
Leab, Daniel J., editor. The Labor History Reader. Articles from the Labor History journal by distinguished labor historians. University of Illinois Press, 1985. ISBN:0-252-01198-8.
Montgomery, David. The Fall of the House of Labor. Cambridge University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0-521-37982-2, pbk.
O'Farrell, Brigid & Joyce L. Kornbluh. Rocking the Boat: Union Women's Voices, 1915-1975. Rutgers University Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-8135-2269-2, pbk.
Tax, Meredith. The Rising of the Women: Feminist Solidarity and Class Conflict, 1880-1917. Monthly Review, 1982. ISBN: 085345549X.
Terkel, Studs. Working. New Press, 1997 reprint. ISBN: 1-56584-342-8
Zieger, Robert H. American Workers, American Unions. 1920-1985. John Hopkins University Press, 1994. ISBN: 0-8018-494-46.
Zieger, Robert H. The CIO: 1935-1955. University of North Carolina Press, 1995. ISBN:0-8078-4630-9 pbk.
Current Labor Issues & Controversies
Abelda, Randy & Chris Tilly. Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty. Verso, 1986. ISBN: 0896085651, pbk.
Aronowitz, Stanley. From the Ashes of the Old: American Labor and America's Future. Houghton-Mifflin, 1998. ISBN: 0-395-88132-3.
Bronfenbrenner, Kate et al., editors. Organizing to Win: New Research on Union Strategies. ILR Press, 1998. ISBN: 0-80148-446-4.
Cobble, Dorothy Sue. Women and Unions: Forging a Partnership. ILR Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-875-46301-0, pbk.
Denenberg, Richard V. and Mark Braverman. The Violence Prone Workplace: A New Approach to Dealing with Hostile, threatening, and Uncivil Behavior. ILR Press, 1999. ISBN: 0-8014-3396-7.
Eisenberg, Susan. We'll Call You If We Need You: Experiences of Women Working Construction. ILR Press, 1998. ISBN: 0-8014-3360-6.
Fraser, Steven and Joshua B. Freeman. Audacious Democracy: Labor, Intellectuals, and the Social Reconstruction of America. Houghton-Mifflin, 1997. ISBN: 0-395-86682-0, pbk.
Glickman, Lawrence B. A Living Wage: American Workers and the Making of Consumer Society. Cornell University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-8014-3357-6.
Kwong, Peter. Forbidden Workers: Illegal Chinese Immigrants and American Labor. New Press, 1997. ISNB: 1-56584-355-X.
Levitt, Martin Jay. Confessions of a Union Buster. Crown Publishers, 1993. ISBN: 0-517-58330-5.
Mantsios, Greg, editor. A New Labor Movement for the New Century. Monthly Review Press, 1998. ISBN: 0-853-45937-1.
Martinez, Elizabeth. De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century. South End Press, 1998. 0-89608-583-X
Mort, Jo-Ann. Not Your Father's Union: Inside the AFL-CIO. Verso, 1998. ISBN: 1-859-84286-0.
Nelson, Cary. Manifesto of a Tenured Radical. NYU Pr, 1999. ISBN: 0-8147-5797-9.
Peddie, Sandra. The Repetitive Strain Injury Sourcebook. Lowell House, 1998. ISBN: 0737300221.
Prieto, Norma Iglesias. Beautiful Flowers of the Maquiladora: Life Histories of Women Workers in Tijuana. University of Texas, 1997. ISBN:0-292-73868-4.
Ross, Andrew, editor. No Sweat: Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment Workers. Verso, 1997. ISBN: 1-85994-172-4, pbk.
Sweeney, John J. America Needs a Raise: Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice. Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN: 0-395-82300-5
Yates, Michael. Why Unions Matter. Monthly Review Press, 1998. ISBN: 0-853-45929-0, pbk.
Economics and General History for Trade Unionists
Folbre, Nancy. The New Field Guide to the U.S. Economy: A Compact and Irreverent Guide to Economic Life in America. New Press, 1995. ISBN: 1565841530.
Geisst, Charles R. Monopolies in America: Empire Builders and Their Enemies from Jay Gould to Bill Gates. Oxford, 2000. ISBN: 0-19-512301-8
Kapstein, Ethan B. Sharing the Wealth: Workers and the World Economy. W.W.Norton, 1999. ISBN: 0-393-04754-7.
Korten, David. When Corporations Rule the World. Berrett-Koehler, 1995. ISBN: 1887208003.
McChesny, Robert. Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communications Politics in Dubious Times. Univ of Illinois, 1999. ISBN: 0252024486.
Mokhiber, Russell. Corporate Predators: The Hunt for Megaprofits and the Attack on Democracy. Common Courage, 1999. ISBN:1567511589. pbk>
Perlo, Victor. Economics of Racism II: The Roots of Inequality, USA. International Publishers, 1996. ISBN: 0-7178-0698-7.
Wallach, Lori & Michelle Sforza. Whose Trade Organization? Public Citizen Inc, 1999. ISBN: 1582310017. Preface by Ralph Nader.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. (20th Anniversary Edition) Harpercollins, 1999. ISBN: 0060194480
Union Histories
Bahr, Morton. From the Telegraph to the Internet. National Press Books, 1998. ISBN: 1-56649-949-6. (The story of the CWA - Communication Workers of America - by its president.)
Ferriss, Susan. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers' Movement. Harcourt Brace, 1997. ISBN: 0-15100-239-8
Fink, Leon. Upheaval in the Quiet Zone: A History of Hospital Workers' Union 1199. University of Illinois Press, 1989. ISBN:0-252-06047-4.
Getman, Julius. The Betrayal of Local 14: Paperworkers, Politics & Permanent Replacements. ILR Press, 1998. ISBN:0-8014-3476-9.
Halpern, Rick and Roger Horowitz. Meatpackers: An Oral History of Black Packinghouse Workers and Their Struggle for Racial and Economic Equality. Twayne Publishers, 1996. ISBN: 0-8057-9120-5.
Hoerr, John P. We Can't Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard. Temple University Press, 1997. ISBN: 1-56639-535-6.
Kingsolver, Barbara. Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983. ILR Press, 1989. ISBN: 0-87546-156-5.
Santino, Jack. Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle: Stories of Black Pullman Porters. University of Illinois Press, 1989. ISBN: 0-252-01591-6.
Stepan-Norris, Judith and Maruice Zeitlin. Talking Union. (Local 600-UAW-CIO) University of Illinois, 1996. ISBN:0-252-06489-5
For Activists and Stewards
Bureau of National Affairs. Grievance Guide: Understand and Anticipate Arbitrators' Rulings.
La Botz, Dan. A Troublemaker's Handbook: How to Fight Back Where You Work - and Win
Markowitz, Linda. Worker Activism After Successful Union Organization. M.E. Sharpe, 1999. How organizing methods affect workers' subsequent attitudes towards their union. ISBN: 0-7656-0492-2.
Outten, Wayne N. et al. The Basic ACLU Guide to the Rights of Employees and Union Members. Southern Illinois Univ Pr, 1994. ISBN: 0809319144.
Parker, Mike and Martha Gruelle. Democracy is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up.
Prosten, David. The Union Steward's Complete Guide: A Survival Manual from the Publishers of Steward Update Newsletter. Union Communication Service Inc, 1997. ISBN: 0965948609.
Salzman, Jason & Jack. Making the News: A Guide for Non Profits and Activists. Westview Pr, 1998. ISBN: 0813368987
Schwartz, Robert M. The FMLA Handbook: A Practical Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act for Union Members and Stewards. Work Rights Pr, 1996. ISBN: 0945902034.
Schwartz, Robert M. The Legal Rights of Union Stewards. Work Rights Pr, 1999. ISBN: 0945902085.
Humor - You Gotta Have it!
Hamper, Ben. Rivethead: Tales From the Assembly Line. Warner Books, 1992. ISBN: 0446394009" Based on his Rivethead column in Mother Jones, this is Hamper's description of his wretched career as a General Motors worker in the factories of Flint, Michigan. Warner Books. 1992. ISBN: 0446394009 pbk.
Huck, Gary & Mike Konopacki. Bye! American. Charles H Kerr Pub Co, 1987. ISBN: 0882861565. Cartoons from the Reagan Era but many are as timely as ever.
Huck Gary & Mike Konopacki. Working Class Hero. Labor cartoon collection from 1994-1998.
Charles H. Kerr Pub, 1999.
Moore, Michael. Downsize This! Harper, 1997. ISBN: 0060977337. Michael Moore's encounters with corporate greed, a la Roger & Me.
Biographies
Anderson, Jervis. A Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait. University of California Press, 1987 (reprint) ISBN:0-52005-505-5.
Anderson, Carlotta. All-American Anarchist: Joseph A. Labadie and the Labor Movement. Wayne State U Pr., 1998. ISBN: 0-8143-2707-9.
Buss, Fran Leeper, ed. Forged Under the Sun: The Life of Maria Elena Lucas. University of Michigan, 1993. ISBN: 0-472-09432-7.
Cook. Alice H. A Lifetime of Labor: The Autobiography of Alice. H. Cook. Feminist Press, 1998. ISBN:155861189-4.
Dubofsky, Melvyn. John L. Lewis: A Biography. University of Illinois Press, 1977. ISBN: 0-252-01287-9.
Dubofsky, Melvyn. Labor Leaders in America. University of Illinos Press, 1987. ISBN: 0-252-01343-3.
Flynn, Elizabeth G. Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life. International Publishers, 1973. ISBN: 0717-80368-6. Available direct from Illinois Labor History Society, Chicago.
Lee, Janet. Comrades and Partners: The Shared Lives of Grace Hutchins and Anna Rochester. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. ISBN 0-8476-9620-0.
Larrowe, Charles. Harry Bridges: The Rise and Fall of Radical Labor in the U.S. Lawrence Hill & Co., 1972. ISBN:0-88208-000-8. OP but worth acquiring, particularly on the West Coast.
Lichtenstein, Nelson. The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor. Basic Books, 1995. ISBN: 0-46509-080-X.
McGilligan, Patrick & Paul Buhle. Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist. Members of the Screen Actors Guild speak. St. Martin's, 1998. ISBN:0-312-17046-7.
Mother Jones. The Autobiography of Mother Jones. Charles. H. Kerr Publications, Chicago, 1990. ISBN: 0882861662.
Painter, Nell Irwin. The Narrative of Hosea Hudson: The Life and Times of a Black Radical. Reissue edition. WW Norton, 1993. ISBN: 0393310159, pbk.
Revkin, Andrew. The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest. Plume, 1994. ISBN:0-452-27405-2.
Salvatore, Nick. Eugene Debs: Citizen and Socialist. University of Illinois Press, 1984. ISBN:0-252-01148-1, pbk.
Labor Fiction - Some New, Some Reissues, Some Classics -- Some Pop Novels for Pure Fun
Baker, Kevin. Dreamland. Set in Coney Island and the Lower East Side, circa 1910, gangster Kid Twist meets Esther Abramowitz, seamstress and labor agitator, they falls in love, and then comes the Triangle fire. Lots of subplots, twists and turns , but the labor theme is a strong one. Harpercollins, 1999. ISBN: 0060193093
Bonosky, Phillip. Burning Valley. Ethnicity, race, religion and workers' struggles in the steels mills of western Pennsylvania. University of Illinois Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-252-06684-7.
Brown, Lloyd. Iron City. The story of Lonnie James, a Black youth falsely convicted of murder and the fight to save his life at a state penitentiary in a steel mill town. Northeastern University Press, 1994
DiDonati, Pietro. Christ in Concrete. Powerful portrait of Italian-American bricklayers who lived in the tenements of NYC in the early 1900s. Signet, 1993 (reprint) ISBN:0-451-52575-2.
Gilden, K.B. Between the Hills and the Sea. Set in the 1940s and 50s, this novel reveals the cost for working people of the Cold War, McCarthyism and political repression in a fictional factory town. ILR Press, 1989 reissue. ISBN:0-87546-154-9.
Jackson, Jon. Go By Go. The murder of an IWW organizer becomes the subject of a 1950s congressional subcommittee, where a former Pinkerton detective (based on the character of Dashiell Hammett) relives his involvement (or not) in the assassination. Dennis McMillan Publications, 1998. ISBN:0-93976-731-7.
Kelly, Thomas. Payback. Do you like your thrillers with a labor slant? This one takes place in the NYC construction boom of the 1980's, called by a reviewer "the working class flip side of "Bonfires of the Vanities." Fawcett, 1998. ISBN: 0449002233.
LeSueur, Meridel. Ripening: Selected Work, 1927-1880. Feminist Pr.,1990. ISBN:0-93531-241-2. Fiction and reportage spanning most of her career as a writer and activist.
Lewis, Sinclair. The Job. Published in 1917, this novel began the trilogy dealing with women's emancipation that would include Main Street and Ann Vickers. The heroine is an office worker in NYC. University of Nebraska Press, 1994 (reprint) ISBN:0-80327-948-5.
Malkiel, Theresa Serber. The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker. Fictionalized account of the great 1909 strike. ILR Press, 1990. ISBN:0-87546-168-9.
Mattison, Alice. The Book Borrower. The borrowed book is Trolley Girl, a fictional memoir of a woman whose sister was killed in a 1921 trolley strike. (A third sister, an anarchist rabble-rouser named Jessie, may or may not have been responsible for the death.) But this book - lost, found and weaving in and out -- is only the hinge for a beautiful story of friendship and loss. William Morrow, 1999. ISBN: 0688168248.
McCann, Collom. This Side of Brightness. Multi-ethnic story of four generations of tunnel-builders and tunnel-dwellers in NYC. Metropolitan Books, 1998. ISBN:0-805-05452-9.
McKenney, Ruth. Industrial Valley. First published in 1939, this fact-based novel was reissued as part of ILR Press' Literature of Labor series. It is based on a strike of Akron, Ohio rubber workers in the 1930s. ILR Press, 1992. ISBN: 0-87546-183-2. For others in the series, see Malkiel and Gilden on this list.
McMillan, Rosalyn. Blue Collar Blues. Do you like your romances with a labor slant? This steamy novel is set among the mostly African American workers inside the "Champion Motors" company of Detroit. Warner, 1998. ISBN: 0-446-52243-0.
Mendez, Miguel. Pilgrims in Aztlan. Considered a classic novel of Chicano life, translated by David Foster. Bilingual Press, 1992. ISBN:0-927535-22-3, 0-927534-23-1, pbk.
Olsen, Tillie. Yonnondio From the Thirties. Regarded by many as a masterpiece, Yonnondio tells the story of a family's migration from coal mining town, to farm to industrial city during the Great Depression. Delta, 1979. ISBN:038-52917-95.
Porter, Connie. All-Bright Court. The lives of African American Steel workers in Lackawanna fall apart as the steel industry falters. OP, but watch for reissue. Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
Poyer, David. Thunder on the Mountain. An accident at Thunder Oil Company in 1936 brings workers, the CIO, Pinkertons and Eleanor Roosevelt to the oil fields of Pennsylvania. Forge, 1999. ISBN:0-312-86494-9.
Rosen, Dorothy. Death and Blintzes. Belle Appleman, garment worker, union member and sleuth, helps Boston police track down the murderer or a fellow worker in 1936 in West Boston. Perhaps Belle is the only union amateur detective in the mystery genre? Academy Chicago Pub., 1996. ISBN:0-89733-450-7.
Sinclair, Upton. The Flivver-King: A Story of Ford-America. Everyone knows and owns The Jungle, the classic about the meat-packing industry. The Flivver-King is a social and economic picture of the making of the auto-industrial age in the first decades of the 20th Century. Charles H. Kerr Publishing, 1987. ISBN:0-88286-054-2 pbk.
Smedley, Agnes. Daughter of Earth. The transformation of a desperately poor, workingclass woman into a feminist and social activist. Feminist Press, 1987. ISBN:0-935312-68-4.
Stegner, Wallace. Joe Hill: A Biographical Novel. Joe Hill as complex, flawed hero, maybe a murderer & IWW martyr. Penguin, 1990. ISBN:014-01394-19.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Need more be written? In Dubious Battle is considered a thematic precursor, telling the story of a strike of migrant fruit pickers in the 1930s.
There are several issues of both in print.
Westlake, Donald E. The Ax. Burke has been downsized after 25 years of service - and he doesn't take too kindly to it. Warner, 1998. ISBN: 0446606081 (pbk)
Zola, Emile. Germinal. Zola's 1885 masterpiece deals with the bleak conditions of miners and their families in 1860's France. There are several paperback editions.
Especially for Young People
Atkin, S. Beth. Voices From the Fields: Children of Migrant Farmers Tell Their Stories. Joy Street Books, 1993. ISBN: 0-31605-633-2. (all ages)
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Growing Up in Coal Country. Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN:0-395-77847-6. (all ages)
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Kids On Strike. Houghton Mifflin, 1999. ISBN: 0-395-88892-1 (all ages)
Bader, Bonnie. East Side Story. 1909 strike in the Triangle sweatshop. Silver Moon, 1993. ISBN:1-881889-22-X. (Stories of the States series, elementary)
Colman, Penny. Mother Jones and the March of the Mill Children. Millbrook, 1994. ISBN: 1-56294-402-9. (elementary)
Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II. Crown Publishers, 1995. 0-517-59791-8. (all ages)
Colman, Penny. Strike! The Bitter Struggle of American Workers From Colonial Times to the Present. Millbrook Press, 1996. ISBN: 1-56294-459-2. (all ages)
Currie, Stephen. We Have Marched Together: The Working Children's Crusade. Lerner Publications, 1997. ISBN: 0-8225-1733-7. (all ages)
Dash, Joan. We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women's Factory Strike of 1909. Scholastic, 1996. ISBN: 0-590-48409-. (all ages)
Gay, Kathlyn. Child Labor: A Global Crisis. Millbrook, 1998. ISBN: 0-7613-0368-5. (YA)
Goldin, Barbara Diamond. Fire! The Beginnings of the Labor Movement. (Once Upon America Series) Penguin, 1992. ISBN:0-670-84475-6. (elementary)
Hanley, Sally. A. Philip Randolph: Labor Leader. Chelsea House, 1988. ISBN: 1555466079, lib. bdg. (YA)
Huerta, Dolores & Frank Perez. Dolores Huerta. Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1996. ISBN:0-81149-789-5. Contemporary Hispanic Americans series.
Jones, J. Sidney. Frankie. Set in the 1913 Colorado miners strike, where the Luke family takes in the enigmatic orphan, Frankie. Lodestar, 1997. ISBN: 0525675744. (elementary)
Josephson, Judith Pinkerton. Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for Workers' Rights. Lerner, 1997. ISBN: 0-8225-4924-7. (All ages)
Kuklin, Susan. Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Slavery. Henry Holt, 1998. ISBN:0-8050-5459-6. (YA)
Mazer, Anne, ed. Working Days: Stories About Teenagers and Work. Persea, 1997. ISBN:089-25522-39, Lib Bdg., 089-25522-47 pbk.
McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick. A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter. Walker & Co., 1990. 0-8027-6885-7. (all ages)
Meltzer, Milton. Bread and Roses: The Struggle of American Labor 1865-1915. Facts on File, 1990. ISBN: 0-8160-2371-9. (YA)
Meltzer, Milton. Cheap Raw Material: How Our Youngest Workers are Exploited and Abused. Viking, 1994. ISBN: 0-670-83128-X. (YA)
Parker, David L. et al. Stolen Dreams: Portraits of Working Children. Lerner, 1998. ISBN: 0-8225-2960-2.
Paterson, Katherine. Lyddie. A coming of age story of a Vermont farm girl who goes to work in a Lowell textile factory in the 1840s. Puffin, 1994. ISBN:014-03498-12. (YA)
Sherrow, Victoria. The Triangle Factory Fire. Millbrook Press, 1995. ISBN: 1-56294-572-6.
(elementary)
Silvey, Anita, ed. Help Wanted: Short Stories About Young People Working. Little, Brown, 1997. (YA) ISBN:031-6791482.
Simonds, Patricia. The Founding of the AFL and the Rise of Organized Labor. Silver Burdett, 1991. 0-382-24123-1,. (elementary)
Stanley, Jerry. Big Annie of Calumet. Annie Clemenc and the 1913 miners' strike in Calumet, Michigan. Crown Pub., 1996. ISBN:0-517-70097-2. (YA)
Streissguth, Thomas. Legendary Labor Leaders. Oliver Press, 1998. ISBN: 1-881508-44-7. (elementary & YA)
Williams, Sherley Anne. Working Cotton. A childhood spent in the cotton fields. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. ISBN:0-15-299624-9. Picture book, illustrated by Carole Byard.
On Video
These videos can generally be purchased from your usual supplier, except where noted.
American Dream - Academy-award winning documentary about the Local P9 UFCW strike against Hormel Meats in 1985. Director Barbara Kopple looks at it from all three sides: local union, international union, and management.
Bruder - This is a historical silent film made by the workers in the 1896 Hamberg transport workers general strike. It was banned and burned by the Nazis and rediscovered after 50 years.
At the River I Stand - Documentary about the 1300 sanitation workers who went on strike for union recognition and higher pay in Memphis in 1968. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a tragic part of that strike. Available through California Newsreel.
The Big One - Michael Moore's continuing adventures with corporate America as he promotes his book "Downsize This!"
For Jobs and Freedom: A. Philip Randolph - The life and work of one of the great labor and civil rights leaders of the 20th Century. Pricey but worth it, order directly from PBS.
The Grapes of Wrath - The depression classic based on Steinbeck's novel of migrant life.
Harlan County - Another Academy award-winner by Kopple, this film documents a United Mine Workers strike at the Brookside Mine in Kentucky. It celebrates the spirit and courage of the miners.
The Killing Floor - Hard-hitting, realistic feature about race relations and union organizing in the Chicago meatpacking industry in 1919.
Matewan - John Sayles popular film is based on a real incident of union organizing in the mines of West Virginia.
Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle: the Untold Story of the Black Pullman Porter - Documentary focusing on the original union drive and interviews with former porters.
Newsies - Militant newsboys organize, a la Disney, and a good choice for kids!
Norma Rae - A woman mill worker becomes an organizer in the cotton mills of North Carolina.
On the Waterfront - Labor all mobbed up in this academy award-winner of the 1950s.
The Organizer - (Italian w/ English subtitles) - Professor Sinigaglia (Marcello Mastroianni) comes to help Turin textile workers fight for better conditions at the end of the 19th Century.
Out of Darkness: The Mineworkers' Story - Another Barbara Kopple documentary, available directly from the UMW.
Proud Valley - Paul Robeson joins the Welsh miners for song and struggle. Robeson's favorite of his own films.
River Ran Red - Documents the 1892 Homestead. PA strike. Acquire through U of Pittsburgh Press.
Roger and Me - Humorous and serious investigation of General Motors by filmmaker Michael Moore.
Salt of the Earth - The Lady's Auxiliary of Local 890 of the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers gave new life to the extended strike in 1951 when they replaced their husbands on the picket line. Most of the actors are the actual workers in the strike.
Silkwood - Karen Silkwood, an activist in the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers was mysteriously killed on her way to provide a reporter with evidence of potentially lethal falsification at the nuclear plant where she worked. A feature film based on true events.
Struggles in Steel - Documenting the long fight-back by African American workers against discrimination in the industry and the unions. Available through California Newsreel.
They Were Not Silent: The Jewish Labor Movement and the Holocaust -- This documentary tells the story of Anti-Nazi and rescue activities of the American Jewish labor movement through archival footage and interviews with labor veterans, Holocaust Survivors and scholars.
Periodicals
America at Work. Magazine of the AFL-CIO, monthly, $10/yr.
Dollars and Sense. A progressive economics magazine for popular audiences. $42/year insitutional subscription. Website: http://www.igc.apc.org/dollars/
Labor Educator. An independent, pro-labor monthly. $40/yr (212-979-8320) Website: http://www.laboreducator.org
Labor History. Scholarly journal published by NYU Tamiment Institute. $60/year (212)737-2715.
Labor Notes. Independent labor monthly, Detroit, MI. $10 year. Website: http://www.labornotes.org
Labor's Heritage. George Meany Memorial Archives, quarterly, $19.95 yr. Website: http://www.nlc.edu/archives/lh.html
Working, USA. M.E. Sharpe, bi-monthly, $84.00 yr
Labor Music: A Rich Recorded History
The New York City Labor Chorus has three recordings available on both CD and Cassette.
NYC Labor Chorus "Live", "In Solidarity" and "On the March." Info and order forms from:
New York city Labor Chorus, 2109 Broadway, Suite 206, New York, NY 10023.
Ani DiFranco and Utah Phillips have two collaborations of workingclass songs and history.,
The latest is "Fellow Workers" (Righteous Babe, 1999).
Philips also teams up with Rosalie Sorrels in "Long Memory" (Red House Records, 1996)
"Don't Mourn - Organize! Songs Of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill" are performed by various artists, including Billy Bragg, Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, Cisco Houston, Hazel Dickens and more!
(Smithsonian Folkways, 1990)
All these and more cassettes and CDs can be found through the comprehensive catalog of the Labor Heritage Foundation: http://www.laborheritage.org.
Labor On the World Wide Web
Sites to checkout and bookmark. Thanks to Suzanne Cohen and Deborah Joseph, librarians at the Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University, for most of the following annotations.
AFL-CIO
This official site includes policy statements, boycott lists, The Working Women's Department, ergonomics, government directories, latest campaigns and "Work-In-Progress" newsletter, and links to member unions.
Executive PayWatch
Find out the compensation and benefits for CEOs at S&P 500 companies, as well as instructions for finding information about companies that are not included.
Illinois Labor History Society
Labor history site focused on Chicago and the Midwest, but with labor history articles, a labor history curriculum and links to related sites.
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
This page includes links to some of the latest IWW Online features, the Preamble to our Constitution, and some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the IWW. Has both Australian and North American sites, current strikes and job action information, links to international "anarchosyndicalist unions", links to sites concerning political prisoners, environmental issues, etc.
LaborNet's Labor Resources Page
LaborNet supports human rights and economic justice for workers by providing internet services, labor news and information, internet training and website design for labor organizations. Offers action alerts, headlines, highlights and other features.
Labor History Web Page
This is an annotated guide to reference sources on labor in the United States, prepared by Andrew Lee, Librarian of the Tamiment Institute Library at New York University. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide and thus excludes industrial relations. The site features Bibliographies and Filmographies, Handbooks, Guides & Encyclopedias, Periodical Indexes, and Primary Sources with proceedings and publications of AFL-CIO affiliated unions and an extremely important guide to labor archives. Related Web Pages are also available.
Labor Unions and the Internet
An online version of this manual on the Catherwood Library's web site. Divided into labor-related subject categories. This site is updated quarterly, so you may check here for updates to the manual.
LabourStart
UK site with Up-to-date information on current labor news from around the world. Labour Links, Net Guide, Web Site of the Week, Labour related Radio and TV.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
View or download safety and health online publications valuable to employees and employers. Ergonomics, Statistics & Data, Useful FAQ page. Agency info and links to other safety and health sites.
Putting Your Union on the Web
A How-To manual from the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. Provides an excellent introduction to everything from web page design to how to actually get your web page onto the Internet.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire site
Presented by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives in cooperation with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!). Includes political cartoons, photographs, oral histories, bibliographies and more.
Union Songs Index
Words and music to lots of union songs, some with "real" audio.
Workindex
Website from Cornell University and Human Resources Executive magazine. Searchable by subject and keyword, it is designed as a gateway to the best workplace oriented websites on the internet.
Yahoo's index to Labor Union information
Index to labor-related Internet resources divided by subject area. Most sites have been suggested by Yahoo! users and web site owners. Allows keyword searching of these sites.
Compiled by Ann C. Sparanese
Member, AFL/CIO-ALA Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups
Head of Adult & Young Adult Services, Member RWDSU Local 29
Englewood Public Library, 31 Engle St.,Englewood, New Jersey 07631
© 1999. List may be reproduced with credit. Your comments welcome to: sparanese@bccls.org.
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