Average customer rating:
- Substance and Beauty, Too
- A meticulously researched historical novel
- Moving story of a mine strike's politics and dangers.
- Beware that movement that generates its own songs.
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Bread and Roses, Too
Katherine Paterson
Manufacturer: Clarion Books
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Binding: Hardcover
 1900s
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Adventure & Thrillers
| Literature & Fiction
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Historical Fiction
| History & Historical Fiction
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Paterson, Katherine
| ( P )
| Authors, A-Z
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ASIN: 0618654798 |
Book Description
Rosa's mother is singing again, for the first time since Papa died in an accident in the mills. But instead of filling their cramped tenement apartment with Italian lullabies, Mamma is out on the streets singing union songs, and Rosa is terrified that her mother and older sister, Anna, are endangering their lives by marching against the corrupt mill owners. After all, didn't Miss Finch tell the class that the strikers are nothing but rabble-rousers;an uneducated, violent mob? Suppose Mamma and Anna are jailed or, worse, killed? What will happen to Rosa and little Ricci? When Rosa is sent to Vermont with other children to live with strangers until the strike is over, she fears she will never see her family again. Then, on the train, a boy begs her to pretend that he is her brother. Alone and far from home, she agrees to protect him . . . even though she suspects that he is hiding some terrible secret. From a beloved, award-winning author, here is a moving story based on real events surrounding an infamous 1912 strike.
Customer Reviews:
Substance and Beauty, Too.......2007-03-23
This lovely story tells about two children caught up in the infamous Lawrence, MA, mill strike of 1912. Rosa Serutti is caught between the anti-union pronouncements of her teacher and the harsh reality of tenement life for her immigrant family. Jake Beale runs from his alcoholic father and finds friends among the Italian mill-workers. As the story progresses, Rosa and Jake are taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Gerbati in Barre, Vermont. Here they receive clothing and food and love from Mrs. Gerbati, but both Jake and Mr. Gerbati are troubled by something from the past. Through the beauty of roses blooming from granite, Jake finds a new life and Mr. Gerbati breaks out of his shell. The strike ends and Rosa returns to her Italian mamma, the woman who deserved not only bread for her family, but roses too.
This is historical fiction of the highest calibre, with authentic details, well-developed characters, and a touching ending. It is a story of substance and beauty, too.
A meticulously researched historical novel.......2007-02-09
Bread and Roses, Too is told from the alternating perspectives of two very different children. Jake Beale has faked his papers to work at the local mill, is largely illiterate, and spends most of his time running away from his abusive, drunken father. He respects no one, and sleeps literally in garbage heaps. Rosa Serutti is the daughter of Italian immigrants, and attends school, though her mother and older sister work in the mills. She's studious, prissy, and quiet, and worries a lot.
Though they have different backgrounds and experiences, both children find their lives turned upside down when the Lawrence mill-workers go on strike. To tell the truth, neither reacts well. Jake steals, lies, and fails to appreciate people's kindness to him. Rosa lectures her mother about the perils of striking, and slinks along on the fringes of the marches and demonstrations that arise, even as she is sometimes inspired by them. I didn't much like either child, early in the story. But things do get better. Eventually, Jake and Rosa's lives intertwine. Rosa is sent away to live in safety with a family in Vermont, and Jake escapes along with her, towing a dark secret.
All of the major events in the book are based on meticulously researched historical events (as detailed in a historical note at the end of the book). The Lawrence strikes are depicted as they happened, in terms of local and state responses, the presence of union organizers, and the humanitarian "vacations" provided for many of the mill-workers children. Barre, Vermont really did host several children from Lawrence during the strikes. A photo of the children inspired the author to look further into the story.
The historical detail does slow the book down a bit, especially in the early part, when Jake and Rosa are still in Lawrence. Because of this, I had a bit of trouble getting into this book. However, it won me over by the end, and had me in tears (in a good way). The two strongest aspects of the book, I think, are the depth of the immersion into the world of the immigrant mill-workers, and the complexity of the characterization.
Regarding the immersion, this is a book that will make readers feel lucky to have food, and warmth, and clean water, and not to have to worry about basic survival. Here's an example, when one of the Italian strikers buys lunch for Jake, giving him a platter of spaghetti:
"It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. The tomato sauce even sported a few bits of greasy sausage. Jake forgot the crowd around him, forgot the strike, forgot the menace that waited for him in the shack, and fell to, his nose almost in the steaming plate. He hadn't had a full platter of food to himself in his entire thirteen years of life."
None of the characters in this book are one-dimensional, with the exception of Jake's dad, who is largely off-screen. Rosa's teacher is not very nice to the children in her class, and she tries to coerce them to convince their parents not to strike. And yet... she travels though the violence-prone streets to ask why Rosa isn't coming to school anymore, and she ends up providing lunch every day for the kids who remain in her class. The man in Barre that Rosa and Jake are sent to stay with, Mr. Gerbati, starts out silent and grouchy, and especially resentful of Jake. But when Jake actually gives him reason to be disapproving, Mr. Gerbati displays unexpected kindness "like his flowers blooming from the cold gray granite." Rosa's mamma is uncouth and uneducated, and somewhat careless of her children, but she has a voice like an angel, and she wants better for her Rosa than she ever had. Isn't that the immigrant dream?
I think that the book is accurate in capturing Rosa's struggles as the "smart one" in an immigrant family. She wants to fit in with her family, but even though she's still a child, her education is taking her beyond them. She's the only one who reads and writes fluently in English. At one point she thinks:
"She would be an American, an educated, civilized, respected American, not a despised child of an immigrant race. When she grew up she'd change her name and marry a real American and have real American children. She wouldn't go out to work in a mill and leave them in the care of someone's old granny who couldn't even speak English. She'd stay home and cook American food and read them American books and ... But even as she thought these determined thoughts, somewhere in the back of her mind she could smell rigatoni smothered in tomato sauce with bits of sausage in it and could hear her mamma's beautiful voice singing Un Bel Di."
I think that there are plenty of immigrant kids today facing the same sort of conflict between the promise of being American and the pull of their own culture.
This is a book that I'll remember for a long time. There is so much unflinching detail: Jake sleeping in the garbage; the welts on Jake's back; the wide-eyed awe of the children when they visit the Gerbati's house for the first time; and the feeling that Rosa has of being part of something larger than herself, during the demonstrations. I think this is one of those books that gets better in your memory, the longer it stays with you. I hope that kids will be able to get past the "good for you" feeling of the early historical parts, because the story has a lot to offer.
This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on February 8, 2007.
Moving story of a mine strike's politics and dangers........2006-12-10
Rosa's mother seems happy again after recording from the mining death of Rosa's father - but she's out in the streets singing union songs, and Rosa's frightened of the corrupt mill owners. When she's sent away to live with strangers in Vermont until the strike is over, she worries she'll never see her family again. Her adoption of a younger boy will help protect them both in this moving story of a mine strike's politics and dangers.
Beware that movement that generates its own songs........2006-09-25
Doggone it, Katherine Paterson, stop making me cry! Under normal circumstances the number of books that make me tear up is a slim number that could be counted on one hand. And most of those books, if I was going to be honest with you, were probably written by Katherine Paterson. Ms. Paterson is a bit of a wonder. Year after year, decade after decade, she churns out consistently well-written meaningful pieces of children's fiction. The last book of Ms. Paterson's that I read was her rather remarkable, "The Same Stuff As Stars". Now, however, she's decided to traipse back into the world of historical fiction, alongside all the other authors this year, and produce a bit of fascinating history that can show a situation clear distinctions between good and bad, and yet leave enough room for people with nebulous motives. If complex narratives is the name of the game, consider Paterson a player.
On the one hand there's Jake. On the other hand there's Rosa. Both children live in Lawrence, Massachusetts in less than stellar conditions. For Jake, life is especially rough. His father's a drunkard who steals his son's money all the time and beats him senseless. And though Jake can usually make a little money in the local mills, it's rarely enough to keep him fed and warm. Rosa, in contrast, is relatively lucky. She lives with her mama, elder sister, and little baby brother in one of the city's many tenements. But life at the mill has been getting worse and worse and when it looks as if the mill owners are going to cut the workers' pay yet again, that's the straw that breaks the camel's back. Now Rosa's mother is joining in with the 1912 strike alongside workers from a variety of different backgrounds. And that might not be so bad except that Rosa is firmly convinced that her mama is putting their entire way of life in jeopardy. Her worst fears are confirmed too when her mother puts her on a train to Barre, Vermont to wait out the strike with a kind family there. On the train Jake meets up with Rosa and though they are only barely acquainted, he convinces her to say that he's her brother so that he can get out of town fast. As it happens, Jake has a secret he's trying to escape while Rosa has a life she's trying to remember.
Though it's clear from the get go that the mill owners are bad and the mill workers are good, Paterson works tirelessly to muddle the issue through Rosa's eyes. As far the girl is concerned, joining in the strike is dangerous and common. And Jake's no better a person with his constant schemes on how to get ahead and lie his way out of most situations. When he finds himself with the striking workers the book reads that, "This was the excitement of being a thief in the middle of hundreds of thieves, all set to steal away the world of Billy Wood", who is the mill's owner. In fact, you could probably say that there are few main characters out there half as self-centered as Rosa and Jake. For a long time all they think about is themselves. It takes a long time for them to get on that train headed for Vermont (150 pages or so), though once they do they're taken far enough away from what they're used to to think about something other than me me me. Rosa's schoolteacher Miss Finch is another complicated character. Unlike the mill schoolteacher in "Counting On Grace", Miss Finch is completely on the side of the owners. She doesn't want Rosa to be taken out of school, but she also encourages the children vehemently to keep their parents from striking. Rosa is, of course, completely on her teacher's side, and it's interesting to watch as Paterson pulls the child reader's strings back and forth and back again. She never tells her audience what to think and she doesn't have to. This book is an excellent example of "show, don't tell".
For those amongst us who don't know their American history as they should, I think I might not be the only one who thought that the title, "Bread and Roses, Too", meant that this story was a sequel. I know, I know. I'm a Neanderthal. I accept that. Really, it wasn't until the story showed how Rosa participated in naming the Bread and Roses Strike personally that I knew where the title even came from. Ms. Paterson, who is always good with clarification, mentions in the book's Historical Note at the end that no one really knows who came up with that phrase. She just took the liberty of assigning the job to Rosa, and it works like a dream.
Part of the privilege that comes with being a writer is that if you would like to set a book partly in your own hometown, you have that right. Ms. Paterson sets part of this book in Barre, Vermont where she herself lives. The people of Barre have long been known for the role they played in hosting the children of the Lawrence strikers. Ms. Paterson used all kinds of Barre historians to aid her in the writing of this book, and the result is a story that certainly gives the city its due. The writing for its own part is, of course, pitch perfect at all times. And while the book's first sentence is nothing to crow about, its last one is amazing. You won't understand much of what it means without having read the book, but I'll write it here just so you can get a taste of what Paterson's about. "How strange, how wonderful it semed to be running, not away from petty crime or deadly fear, but toward a new life where bread was never wanting and roses grew in stone."
It's interesting to note that Paterson doesn't go into the details of what working in a mill would entail in this book. We see the result of horrid working conditions rather than the cause. Technically she already showed the cause in her book "Lyddie". And if you happen to be desperate to read about what it was like for mill children, definitely seek out Elizabeth Winthrop's remarkable, "Counting On Grace". If children reading this book can get past Rosa's self-centeredness (she doesn't ever seem to get behind the strike until it seems as if she's named it herself) and they don't get bogged down in the story's first half, they'll be rewarded with a remarkable addition to the Paterson oeuvre. Reading "Bread and Roses, Too", makes you feel, when you are done, as if you've become a better person for the reading. A lovely little novel.
Book Description
Cesar Chavez is known as one of America's greatest civil rights leaders. When he led a 340-mile peaceful protest march through California, he ignited a cause and improved the lives of thousands of migrant farmworkers. But Cesar wasn't always a leader. As a boy, he was shy and teased at school. His family slaved in the fields for barely enough money to survive.
Cesar knew things had to change, and he thought that--maybe--he could help change them. So he took charge. He spoke up. And an entire country listened.
An author's note provides historical context for the story of Cesar Chavez's life.
Customer Reviews:
A beautiful children's book with an illustrated personal story and a larger message.......2006-09-09
Harvesting Hope tells the tale of Cesar Chavez, but more than that, it reveals the power of collective bargaining and fighting for what is just in the world. As a children's book, it has appeal as a well-illustrated biography, an important history lesson, a story of family and personal triumph, and a book with a message. Chavez's crusade took place several decades ago, but the plight of migrant farm workers remains, despite the tremendous inroads Chavez made with La Causa. The story of Chavez's childhood, hard days of labor, and fight for worker's rights is timeless, and Kathleen Krull's award-nominated book deserves a place on every child's bookshelf.
The story of a lesser known American Hero.......2006-02-22
This is a great picture book for all ages. The heroic story of Cesar Chavez is left out of most U.S. history classrooms, save those in California. This book would be an enlightening addition to any classroom or children's library.
Si Se Puede.......2005-06-08
Let's begin by saying that the drawings are super and captivating. Yuyi Morales creates characters that show emotion and the result is a drawing of emotion from the young reader. As the title implies this is the story of Cesar Chavez who many adults came to know about from his work with the farmworkers in California. This story humanizes the man by beginning in his childhood. The roots of the farmworker leader are explored as a young person traveling from crop to crop , from state to state. A drought in Arizona began the family oddyssey that would result in Caser Chavez becoming familiar first hand with the troubles of the farmworkers. Life on the road became a harsh reality. The treatment he encountered in school forced him to drop out in eighth grade but the treatment in the fields wasn't much better, at times it was much worse. This is simple story about a complex problem that one man was determined to overcome. He wanted justice for farmworkers and organized. He became to Mexicans what MLK was for civil rights, for Mexicans it was an extension of civil rights. This is a beautiful book for young readers or those not so young that are learning to read in English if they have a reading foundation in another language. Although it is recommended for children ages 6-9, middle school students, ages 9-12, especially those with limited English proficiency can benefit from this story well told. For the teacher or parent this book can help instill pride and understanding as to how determination, perseverance and hard work can overcome even the greatest odds.
Beautiful, educational, brought tears to my eyes!.......2004-11-25
I recommend this book for anyone 4 and up (adults included!) Beautiful illustrations and a wonderful telling of an important part of history.
Harvesting Hope is Hopeful.......2004-08-02
This story is a wonderful way to teach children about the people who have made a difference in our world. People like Cesar Chavez. The story beautifully illustrates how Cesar did not use violence to solve problems but rather he used his mind, as his mother had taught him. The illustartions are vivid and real. The story is well written and teaches an important part of California history in a wonderful way. It reaches the heart of all ages. This is a great book for any elementary school classroom library, even High School.
Book Description
As cartoons and animated features became an increasingly important part of the entertainment business, the production of cartoons industrialized to meet growing demands for the new global media. Artists adopted traditional union models to protect their jobs and working conditions, and a unique set of unions was born.
Drawing the Line is the first labor history of an industry whose principle figures--Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, and Max Fleischer--helped define American entertainment. Author Tom Sito, Disney animator and former president of the Hollywood Animation Guild, draws on oral histories, archival information, and firsthand knowledge of the animation process to create an insider's history of a colorful set of labor unions.
Sito describes the history and the fiery personalities behind the formation of the Screen Cartoonists Union, the strikes and walk-outs, the effects of Hollywood blacklisting, and the battles at the bargaining tables. He closes with a look at the changing nature of animation and the way in which current giants Disney and Dreamworks are again reshaping the relationship between studios and animators. Well illustrated with never-before-seen images from the backstage of classic Hollywood, Drawing the Line will change basic assumptions about animation history and its place in the story of American labor.
Customer Reviews:
Great specialized info.......2007-07-28
I originally read about this book in a review from animation world network (www.awn.com) It is everything the review said. Great information about the start of the industry fighting for its rights. A great read if you are into animation history. All of the animation old masters are involved, and speaks of even though they were in competition, they all had the same goal.
Fills a Historic Gap.......2007-03-13
As a Disney enthusiast, I have found one of the most delicate and hard-to-research periods in Disney history was the 1941 studio strike. Tom Sito fills this gap by providing a comprehensive narration. But more important to others, he provides a complete history of labor developments in the animation profession. I had no idea there had been so much turmoil! His account is very up-to-date, too, covering the most recent developments, like computer animation. This is a key reference tool for anyone seriously interested in the business of animation.
Essential Cornerstone of Animation History.......2007-03-04
This text is a pure labor of love.
The fight for fair employment practices within animation history is a story that needed to be told. For far too long, the sacrifices of artists and animation production personnel was overshadowed by the personal stories of studio founders who resisted outside influences within their beloved cartoon factories.
Tom Sito should be commended for faithfully reconstructing the backstory behind the most famous animation studios in the world: Disney's, Fleischer, MGM, Terrytoons, UPA, et al.
Not only does the author's passion shine through for preserving this neglected corner of animation history, he remains focused on the future of the medium; regardless of the technological advances to come.
Remarkably, the author does not succumb to slamming labor vs. management (or vice versa). Somehow the emotion-filled histories are presented in a manner that respects both perspectives that were responsible for bringing animation to a world-wide audience over the past century.
Unfortunately, the sacrifices of depression-era / WWII animators are slipping from memory; leaving today's pragmatic artists unprepared to fight the overpowering influences of the entertainment giants that control the industry today.
Future animation historians will be grateful for this essential work: the first of its kind. A "must-have" for any Walt Disney library or animation archive.
-"IT'S OFF TO WORK WE GO"... illustrating not such a rosey picture of Toon Town!.......2007-01-02
Mickey Mouse, Popeye, Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, Mr. Magoo, Fred Flintstone, the Pink Panther and Bart Simpson, are the biggest stars in the business. But they couldn't make the slightest move or even open their mouths, without the help of the animation worker. Meaning no disrespect, I say worker and not artist, because that's what Tom Sito's book "Drawing The Line" is all about. The eternal labor struggle of men and women in the animation industry and their right to be recognized and treated as artists. Of course Hollywood is not the kind of town where that is ever likely to happen any time soon. And for all those that scoff and think that anyone who gets paid to simply draw for a living, let alone getting to work in Hollywood at all should be forever grateful. Well -you're about to have your eyes opened as you turn the pages of this well written and lovingly researched history, that dares to speak the truth and document it in precise detail. Through first-hand accounts of the animators that struck the studios, were fired and blacklisted, Sito has chronicled their plight and shown the effect it has had on working conditions today.
As an animator himself and a former declared labor cynic. Sito learned from personal experience why their really was a need to be unionized. So much so that he later went on to become an active president of the screen cartoonists local in Hollywood. Yes, animation was and still is a labor intensive assembly-line that even in this digital computer age, still relies on the artistic and professional skill's of it's of workers. It's a "must read" not just for anyone with the least interest in animation, Hollywood or social and labor studies, but for anyone who's keen to know just how their favorite cartoon characters came into being in the first place. Believe me, you'll never see them as just simple drawings ever again!
Many important insights on how the business evolved and how it affects today's working animators........2006-12-14
DRAWING THE LINE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ANIMATION UNIONS FROM BOSKO TO BART SIMPSON provides the first comprehensive history of animators' unions in modern times, from silent cartoons through today's big movie hits. Any involved in cartooning will find the business and industry insights essential to a thorough knowledge of their career choice: history and cultural observations blend with a survey of the entertainment industry as a whole, making for many important insights on how the business evolved and how it affects today's working animators.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Book Description
"Now in paperback, this critically acclaimed book offers readers a rare glimpse into the lives of today's migrant children. "
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful book for multi cultural interest.......2006-11-10
I used this book as an extension book for a thematic unit I created over Mexican Migrant Farmers. It is great to bring home the idea that this is not history but is still going on in present day!
Easy read, yet sad.......2002-02-02
I write that as a title because if you look into these children's eyes there is hope and sadness. It bothers me to see how these children and their families are forced to live. I live in the N CA wine country and I see the same thing going on here. Exploitation of the workers, inadequite housing, awful pay.
I would LOVE to see a follow up book about these families now that it is 10 years later to see how they have fared. The young gang member who left his gang, the teenage mother who dreams of going to college, the little boy who wants to buy his parents a car. Did any of them make it?
Review Of Voices From The Fields.......2001-04-17
Voices From The Fields is about nine different children all of which are Mexican/Spanish. Each tells a different story about their life. All of these children have one thing in common, they work in the fields or they have a close relative that works in a field. Their stories range from being involved with gangs to the difficulty of moving up in society. As different as these nine children may be, they all care very much for their families and believe nothing is more important. Throughout the book there are photographs of the children and their families. Photographs aid the text in describing conditions and emotions of the people being discussed. Through this mix of text and photographs emotions can be amplified. Children most importantly can aid from photographs being provided since they may not understand certain things they read; yet photographs may open the doors for them. The can better see different feelings such as joy or anger as well as people of different cultures in their own environment. It can also become apparent to children who read the book just how important family is to each of the nine children. They are all care for each other very deeply and this is obvious through the photographs. Julia Hirsch says "A far more complex and elusive relationship between text and image occurs in those books which use snapshots, or other similarly dramatic image: pictures which contain some emotional charge, such as a gesture caught in midstride, an object viewed from an unusual angle, an enigmatic facial expression, a blurred background, or deep shadows and diffuse lighting."(Hirsch, 142) Manuel Araiza talks about his home in the book and such details such as the home being comprised of one room with a kitchen. Next to the text where he is discussing these conditions is a picture of the house. Immediately we feel more sympathetic towards Manuel since we are able to see with our own eyes what he is describing to us. The photographs in this book allow children readers to "experience" a minority culture that most children otherwise would never be exposed to. Hirsch later goes on to say, "Photography in recent years has also given "visibility" to yet other aspects of the human condition which have formerly been kept from most children."(Hirsch 150) One example of these "human conditions" is presented in the book for children to learn about. This condition is the life of migrant farm workers and their families. The photographs in this book depicting ethnic minorities, which also happen to be largely immigrants, provide for an excellent learning experience for children. Books focusing on different cultures and ways of life especially ones with such rich and detailed photography are good for children. These books help to educate on material that is beyond the classroom. Emotions, feelings, and different situations are better understood. It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so by supplementing photographs with the text of the book children take with them a great deal more than would have been without photographs.
Picking into migrant families lives.......2000-08-23
I have recommended this book to teachers, counselors, therapists, social workers, politicians and law enforcement officials. It takes you inside migrant families lives and lets you share with them their success, sacrifice, and nostalgia. Beth Atkins captures more than images in her photographs. She captures pride, hard work, and nostalgic happy lives away from home (Mexico).
Originario de Moroleon, GTO Mexico
Book Description
An eye-opening field guide to the wealth gap.
For every dollar owned by the average white family in the United States, the average family of color has less than a dime. Why do people of color have so little wealth? The Color of Wealth lays bare a dirty secret: for centuries, people of color have been barred by laws and by discrimination from participating in government wealth-building programs that benefit white Americans.
This accessible book—published in conjunction with one of the country's leading economics education organizations—makes the case that until government policy tackles disparities in wealth, not just income, the United States will never have racial or economic justice.
Written by five leading experts on the racial wealth divide who recount the asset-building histories of Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans, this book is a uniquely comprehensive multicultural history of American wealth. With its focus on public policies—how, for example, many post-World War II GI Bill programs helped whites only—The Color of Wealth is the first book to demonstrate the decisive influence of government on Americans' net worth.
Customer Reviews:
3/4 of the way it's really good and then..........2006-10-28
This book is a solid piece of scholarship for the most part. The last quarter, however, dissipates into more reformism. It is interesting to see statistics on the wealth differential between Whites and other Ethnic Groups and the causal factors concomitantly, e.g. racism, Ethnocentricism, greed etc. The historical analysis as to what created the divide is thorough. That said, the prescription in the end makes one wonder if the scholars' really grasped the Historical antecedents that they presented to begin with. What occured in the past to create the disparity was not accidental. On the contrary. Whites today have the same mindset as their ancestors did in regards to wealth and securing it. How can they not? It's the same continuum. The society reinforces it. Just ask Tim Wise. Whites need only be on auto pilot to maintain this unjust system. The only solution is a complete social revolution, this - in the long run - will move people of color into equality while simultaneously changing the psyches' of Whites. Anything short of that can be consigned to phantasmic thinking.
Accessible, clear, enlightening.......2006-07-24
Heavily researched, but written in a very accessible way. You will learn volumes about wealth disparities and how they got that way, and you will learn something about yourself too. Highly recommended for anyone with interests in social and economic justice, racism, and just getting ahead in America.
Breaking the Seemingly Impenetrable Racial Barriers of Wealth Accumulation.......2006-06-24
Eye-opening doesn't even begin to describe this enlightening volume about the socioeconomic divide among whites and non-whites in this country and the role the government plays in reinforcing the separation. Organized by five key members of the nonpartisan United for a Fair Economy organization based in Atlanta, the book handily dismantles the Horatio Alger myth, especially for minority members, by detailing how economic predation has persisted even as significant strides have been made in the far more discernible civil rights arena. The co-authors - Executive Director Meizhu Lui, Communications Director Betsy Leondar-Wright, current board member Bárbara Robles, past board member (until 2005) Rose Brewer, and Rebecca Adamson of the First Peoples Worldwide - have assembled not only a comprehensive history but also a fulsome, current picture of the economic discrimination that has festered pointedly against four different groups - African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.
Not coincidentally, the five women come from five different ethnic groups (including white), which allow them to compare their individual experiences and provide personal validation (and sometimes challenges) of their findings. Perhaps the most compelling fact unearthed is the substantial divide in net worth between blacks and whites. Previously, focus has been mostly on income disparity, which while significant, has been almost passively accepted. Specifically, median household income for whites in 2003 was about $48K, while for black households it was about $30K. However, looking on the balance sheet, the co-authors uncovered the revelatory fact that whites had a median net worth of $121K in 2001 versus just $19K for blacks.
This and the book's other equally invaluable findings clearly illustrate how public policy has hindered asset accumulation among non-whites, and there is also an itemized list of special advantages afforded exclusively to whites. On a more personal level, the co-authors show how such exclusionary tactics have affected the self-esteem of their families, especially among their fathers who feel they have failed them somehow. In a hopeful effort to clarify the decisive influence of government on Americans' net worth, the book is not a socialist tract but rather a realistic how-to guide on how to affect policy changes that will help future generations in their wealth-building strategies. I think this is must-read information well worth studying by those looking for a constructive means of addressing the economic inequity in wealth, not just income. This is essential reading.
Book Description
On May 4, 1886, a bomb exploded at a Chicago labor rally, wounding dozens of policemen, seven of whom eventually died. A wave of mass hysteria swept the country, leading to a sensational trial, that culminated in four controversial executions, and dealt a blow to the labor movement from which it would take decades to recover. Historian James Green recounts the rise of the first great labor movement in the wake of the Civil War and brings to life an epic twenty-year struggle for the eight-hour workday.
Blending a gripping narrative, outsized characters and a panoramic portrait of a major social movement, Death in the Haymarket is an important addition to the history of American capitalism and a moving story about the class tensions at the heart of Gilded Age America.
Customer Reviews:
Please, someone make a movie of this book.......2007-08-01
It would be hard to find a more clear example of the importance of class conflict in American history than this book. The irony is that those unfamiliar with this concept are unlikely to read Death in the Haymarket, but they ought to. The book's narrative accelerates from the opening mise en scene to a dramatic recounting of the trial and aftermath of the seven men indicted more for their sentiments than their actions. One can almost hear Albert Parson's defiant rejection of a clemency that could have spared him from the gallows. Told in a fluid manner and an eye for detail that will make this the definitive narrative of the Haymarket tragedy.
Well Written and Accessible History Lesson.......2007-06-09
I've lived in and around Chicago my entire life and slowly I've been trying to educate myself about the important events in the city's history. To be honest, the Haymarket has intimidated me as a subject for years because it seemed to involve so many unknowns. But, when I saw this book, I finally decided to take the plunge. While Mr. Green acknowledges the unknowns and the controversies, he offers a coherent narrative, so often missing in works about historical events, that makes the event less daunting than I expected it to be. If anything, I am more curious about this event and the topic of Chicago in the late 1800's than I was before. The issues at hand are clearly stated as events build toward the riot itself and the aftermath, including repercussions to this day, are laid out in detail. It is as if this was a work of well formulated fiction rather than the narrative history of the turning point in labor history.
Interesting history lesson.......2007-03-15
Author James Green is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He grew up outside Chicago.
This book is especially important in light of recent encroachments on the rights of citizens. What happened in Haymaket Square on May 4, 1886? I would wager that many Americans do not know. After striking workers had been killed by private security guards the day before (trying to get an 8-hour work day, at that time most workers worked ten-hour days), a labor rally had included especially outraged speeches by labor leaders August Spies and Albert Parsons, among others.
During a march after the rally, police formed ranks six deep and charged menacingly towards the crowd, when a bomb exploded in the ranks of the police, killing seven, and injuring many more. Shots rang out, and those still left at the rally (it had begun to rain, and only around 500 people were left listening to the last speaker) fled in confusion. Police shot indiscriminately into the crowd, probably wounding some of their own. Hundreds of arrests and searches followed.
The speakers at the rally and well-known labor leaders August Spies and Albert Parsons were tried for murder along with "anarchists" Louis Lingg (the only one who had ever made a bomb, though it could not be proved that one of his bombs was used that night), Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Sam Fielden, Oscar Neebe, and Michael Schwab. After a long and contentious trial and appeals, Governor Oglesby upheld the death sentences of Parsons, Spies, Fisher and Engel; and commuted the sentences of Fielden and Schwab to life in prison. Louis Lingg had committed suicide while in prison a few hours before.
Was there evidence of a conspiracy? Did these men deserve to die? Or were they killed for simply speaking out against the murder of workers?
This is a well-written account of the events in the years leading up to this rally, with an epilogue outlining the labor movement and the perceptions of the Haymarket martyrs in the years up to the present day. Green brings the characters involved to life, and uses illustrations, maps, writings, and transcripts of speeches to great effect.
Armchair Interviews says: This would be an excellent selection for a book club discussion.
A very sobering account of the labor battles in early Industrial America.......2007-03-10
It is nice to see this book will soon be out in paperback making it available to a broader audience, because it is a much needed account of the early days of the labor movement in America. James Green has done a remarkable job of building the events that surrounded the notorious Haymarket bombing of 1886 by exploring the lives of the eight men who stood accused for inspiring the incident. He starts with the explosive incident, and then digs back into the archive of union organization in Chicago and the attempts to form a national labor union. While most of the figures were foreign born, one figure, Albert Parsons, hailed from Texas and became the most charismatic figure of the Chicago Eight.
Green shows how the media, police and state militia were predominantly held under the influence of the industrialists, who felt it their god-given right to set the rules for the market economy at the time. While economic giants like McCormick and Pullman attempted to create more ameniable workplaces, even they refused to negotiate with unions, preferring instead to hire scabs and use the Pinkerton Agency to break strikes. The early socialist movement preferred to negotiate with the industrialists, knowing it was a long term process to get better pay and working conditions, but the anarchists felt that stronger resistance was necessary and labor leaders like Parsons and Spies became the spokesmen for the growing anarchist movement in America.
The book chronicles the events that led up to the Haymarket bombing, illustrating the many attempts of the industrialists and indeed the city to quash the labor movements. While the mayor of Chicago, Carter Harrison, was sympathetic to the socialists, and relied heavily on their political organization, he was also cognizant of the stronghold the industrialists had on the city. One particular figure, Marshall Field, did more than anyone to harness the forces the city to defeat the unions, but nevertheless the unions flourished thanks in large part to the steady flow of European immigrants.
Green connects the labor movement in America to that in Europe and how the two fed off each other, noting the strong influence of Marx and Bakunin on American labor leaders. It was this fear of foreign influence that the media used to help sway public opinion in favor of the industrialists, despite their well noted abuses of power.
Whether you agree with the tactics of the anarchists or not, you will be enlightened by the depth of understanding that James Green demonstrates in this book. Most important is how Green links the events of 1886 with the ongoing labor struggle in the new age of globalization as industrialists take advantage of cheap labor much in the way they did 120 years ago, using every hook and crook to break labor organizations. He shows how the Chicago Eight became iconic figures in the international labor movement as a result of a bogus trial. Four were executed and one died in jail, who also faced execution. It is a very sobering account of the labor battles in early industrial America.
The first labor movement and a sham trial........2007-01-25
After having lived in Chicago for the better part of twenty years, it is amazing that little is known of the Haymarket here. It is also a shame. Of those put on tial for the murder of the three policeman, perhaps one was guilty. The rest spoke out about the grave injustices of the industrial system. What they got as a reward was the hangman's noose. What the judicial system proved was that people who spoke out but did not engage in violence were met with a violent end by a judicial system that defended the status quo.
Green does a great job of detailing the beginnings of the industrial system here in Chicago. He is perhaps a little lengthy in this respect but he shows the growth of this vibrant city. He also shows the underlying decay and how it affected the city's less affluent. On top of this system were the fat cats led by the McCormick brothers and Pullman. They were also defended by the Chicago Tribune. Below this social status were immigrant communities being exploited for their labor. When a German immigrant named Spies and a Texan named Parsons spoke out on this system, they became targets of the upper class. When the tragedy of the Haymarket happened, the judicial system blamed the speakers and not the bomb thrower. The system engaged in judicial murder.
This is a fine book. The only issue I have on it is the lengthy introduction to the cast of characters. However, the author puts alot of detail in his writing. The reader will understand why the Haymarket tragedy came about.
Book Description
"The Battle of Blair Mountain is historical narrative at its best." (Christian Science Monitor)
In 1921, some 10,000 West Virginia coal miners-- outraged over years of brutality and exploitation-- picked up their Winchesters and marched against their tormentors, the powerful mine owners who ruled their corrupt state. For ten days the miners fought a pitched battle against an opposing legion of deputies, state police, and makeshift militia. Only the intervention of a Federal expeditionary force ended this undeclared war. In The Battle of Blair Mountain, Robert Shogan shows this long-neglected slice of American history to be a saga of the conflicting political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the power structure of twentieth-century America.
"A mesmerizing, rarely mentioned piece of labor history, crackingly told." (Kirkus, starred review)
"Riveting and well researched." (Library Journal)
"Concise, dramatic and authoritative." (Publishers Weekly)
Customer Reviews:
Good, but not quite enough.......2007-08-09
Having read Denise Giardina's fictional account of events surrounding the battle (Storming Heaven), having seen John Sayles' film "Matewan," and having viewed the account as offered in the West Virginia documentary of a few years back, I was hoping for some fairly extensive background into the conflict.
Some background is provided -- the book is not a waste for those who have some familiarity with the events. For those without fairly extensive knowledge, the book should prove an eye-opener. Yes, there was a time in this fair nation when corporations had rights and individuals -- human beings who suffered the ignonomy of not being rich -- did not. The economic schism we are plunging into presently existed before, and men whose only crime was demanding to be paid fairly for their work were treated as criminals and rebels.
Shogan provides some insight into the political world that allowed these injustices as well as a good account of the Battle and the events leading up to it. Again, not quite as much background as I had hoped for, but the book is more than good enough to make an impression. Valuable reading!
A journalistic account.......2007-07-03
I was disappointed with this book after reading several of the academically oriented histories of the period that go into detail about the war particularly from the miners' point of view. I hope for more detail on the actual happenings of the battle, more focus on its aftermath. Shogan is a journalist who seems to have had a fascination with this incident for decades. However, it seems that his career as a Washington based reporter, has shifted too much of this story inside the beltway (of course before the beltway was conceived.)
Shogun spends too much time talking about the reactions of politicians in Washington and for that matter politicians in West Virginia. He will not only tell you what they did, but give you their entire life background. He does this with the union officials on a national level like John Mitchell and John L. Lewis without giving us much of a picture of what their roles were in the union strategy inside West Virginia or with the federal government.
Given the abundance of books that are much better researched about the general struggle for West Virginia coal in the first decades of the 20th Century, I had hoped that Shogan would not provide a rehash of what had already been written. Unfortunately, this is exactly what he did with anecdote and a general outline that appears to have been taken from other texts without much thought.
Likewise, I hoped that he would zero in and provide many more details about the actual battle, which is, after all the subject of his book, but there really isn't much in here that you can't find elsewhere, and elsewhere there is much more serious discussion of the struggle that led to the battle and the economics and politics and sociology of both miners and the coal bosses.
One wishes, someone outside the beltway and close enough to a coal camp had written this story, or even some military writer who is used to giving details of battles.
Fantastic .......2007-01-12
Detailed yet highly enjoyable account of WV coal field battles. A must for labor and union advocates.
Report on "The Battle of Blair Mountain".......2006-11-05
Since I am a West Virginian, born near the scene of this account, I found it especially interesting and informative. I think it would make good reading for anyone, and very good for history buffs, or students of the labor movement.
Desperation Collides with Intransigence.......2006-01-18
The author, Robert Shogan, states "For years the union miners and the allies of the coal operators spilled each other's blood in the West Virginia hills until the miners were beaten into submission." He further notes "Yet the great uprising of the West Virginia miners remains only an afterthought in our historical consciousness, earning only a few sentences at the most even in chronicles of the labor movement and no attention at all in more general accounts of the American heritage."
Following WWI, there was excess coal mining capacity. "Only by keeping the union out, allowing them to hold down wages, could the West Virginia's producers make up for their increased transportation costs" to industrial markets "and gain a proportionate share of the market." The miners and the United Mine Workers Union (UMW) wanted union recognition and fair wages thus putting them on a collision course with the operators.
Mine operators used Baldwin-Felts detectives to intimidate union organizers. Miners joining the union were fired and thrown out of company houses. In Mingo County the mayor of Matewan, Police Chief Sid Hatfield and the sheriff managed to serve as a buffer for the miners of Mingo. When they attempted to stop Baldwin-Felts detectives from evicting fired union miners from company houses, a gun battle resulted at the Matewan depot in which two miners, seven detectives and the mayor were killed. The area and its people were now fully caught up in a ruthless conflict between the two old enemies.
This work chronicles the events from the Matewan shoot-out through the final battle on Blair Mountain as the desperate miners were beaten into submission. Robert Shogan gives an excellent account of the often puzzling and conflicting events as the conflict progressed. There was no effective, and often biased, law enforcement, while politicians made the situation critical. The governors wanted intervention by the U.S. Army, while Presidents Wilson and later Harding equivocated. The miners wanted a fair hearing and their grievances addressed. Ultimately, the miners got a hearing before the US Senate, but there was no restraint on the mine owner's side. The result was the standoff continued leaving the miners few options for their struggle. The miners then began to assemble near the town of Marmet (close to Charlestown, WV) intending to storm the town of Logan, WV, the seat of strong union opposition lead by County Sheriff Don Chafin and his standing army.
Meanwhile, Harry Bandholtz of the U.S. War Department, desperately tried to make peace but union leadership was powerless to stop the miner's march. The miners were now leaderless as the union district officials were now under indictment and left the state. To reach Logan in Logan County the miners had to cross Blair Mountain which they began crossing; and on August 27th they confronted Sheriff Logan's troops, bloodshed resulted. However, Friday night September 2, 1921 some 2100 federal troops arrived and began their task of ending the fighting and restoring order.. By Sunday September 4 the war was over. The precise death toll was never established, but estimates range for fewer than twenty to more than Fifty.
Most interesting both sides welcomed the troops as helpful to their case; unfortunately for the miners this belief turned out to be false. The subsequent legal assault by the coal operators was a devastating blow to the UMW in West Virginia where union membership tumbled to a few hundred. The mine owners used their wealth to dominate West Virginia political and legal systems. The hopes of the rebellious miners were not fulfilled until the Roosevelt administration redeemed their rights through legislation. Today's workers have been spared the fear and desperation that haunted the miners who marched on Blair Mountain. Most interesting the miners were patriotic and believed in the American dream, feelings shared with the middle class. They basically wanted protection of their rights under the law.
The running conflict from Matewan to Blair was the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. This is a well written; well researched work. Shogan gives brief backgrounds on the major figures while his style keeps the narrative moving.The suppression of the Mingo coal miners fight for recognition and fair treatment helped shape the power structure of 20th century America and continues into the 21st century.
Amazon.com
Don Snyder had a plum academic job, a peaceful, almost perfect life, and plans for far more success in the future. Teaching English and creative writing at Colgate University couldn't have been more stimulating; he sought ever more work and thrived on student contact. When his contract was suddenly not renewed, Snyder was uncomprehending. Nonetheless, he responded immediately--thinking his efforts and accomplishments would pay off, as they always had in the past. Interestingly, he took some time before relaying the news to his pregnant wife, hoping that he could match the bad news with that of another appointment. After almost 100 rejection letters, Snyder found himself helping (not necessarily the word his fellow laborers probably used) to build a house in Maine, and worrying about being able to afford heavier boots. This book might have been preachy or self-indulgent. It is neither.
Book Description
Don Snyder had a plum academic job, a peaceful, almost perfect life, and plans for far more success in the future. Teaching English and creative writing at Colgate University couldn't have been more stimulating; he sought ever more work and thrived on student contact. When his contract was suddenly not renewed, Snyder was uncomprehending. Nonetheless, he responded immediately--thinking his efforts and accomplishments would pay off, as they always had in the past. Interestingly, he took some time before relaying the news to his pregnant wife, hoping that he could match the bad news with that of another appointment. After almost 100 rejection letters, Snyder found himself helping (not necessarily the word his fellow laborers probably used) to build a house in Maine, and worrying about being able to afford heavier boots. This book might have been preachy or self-indulgent. It is neither.
Customer Reviews:
Hits close to home .......2005-04-20
I just read this book while still mired in a job search going on three years. The emotional tailspin the author displays is heart-wrenching and familiar; the tone of the first 200 pages felt like reading my own journals. I did not identify with the author's deceptions and strange behaviors, however, such as lying to his wife or to an insurance company, or considering selling a new baby. But everyone has their own threshold for going haywire, and the point of this book is that Don Snyder got through it and learned something about life, work, and family.
THE CLIFF WALK, beyond the author's personal journey, raises excellent questions about the "American Dream" and what it means in our modern age. It also looks at the meaning of work, and how we draw self-esteem -- even identity -- from what we do for pay. This is a courageous book, even if you don't always approve of how the author responds to his plight, and it offers a strong dose of perspective on what really matters.
Finding strength in vulnerability.......2005-02-25
This is the ultimate victory story...with a twist. Unlike most autobiographical profiles, this one doesn't stand tall and tell you how great it is to be great. The thing is, it doesn't wrap itself up neatly either; the ending doesn't suddenly justify everything that has happened along the way. It's a formula all it's own, one that carries you up and down through the vulnerable channels this man had to endure.
What's so refreshing about this book is kind of what I liked about the movie "Fargo"--the realization that a good story is as much the cumulitive value of the bits and pieces as it is the linear value--of this happening, then this, then this. Moments like his talking to a stranger while chipping golf balls capture the true feeling, the mixed combination of killing time with his genuine fear of being unemployed for even one more day. It's a strange loneliness that we all feel from time to time, even when we're not truly alone. Again, most writers need to have scaled great mountains before they'll write a story where they hang themselves out like this. Don Snyder makes an exception. In today's world, most nonfiction books succeed based on what they emphasize, leave in, or leave out. Snyder tells it all--even the bits that aren't exactly flattering.
And in the end, he shows his true grit: not with eagles or birdies, but simply by making the pars he's supposed to make. And don't let my analogies fool you: it's not about golf. It's just your typical combination of fear and pride and confusion that somehow lead us to where we are today. And it's that kind of simplicity that makes a book like this stand the test of time, whether it be now or 50 years down the road.
One of the best.......2005-02-08
My husband and I both read this book a few years ago and agreed that it was one of the most profound memoirs we'd ever read. Snyder was born to write and we are blessed to have his thoughts recorded for posterity.
Liked it in the end.......2004-12-27
I am in a situation similar to the character in the book to a lesser degree. So it was with great interest that I dove into this book. I was curious to read about Don Snyder's feelings and actions while he was unemployed. Probably many of us share his overconfidence about the ease of finding another job. And many of us subconsciously or not, look down upon those who have to earn their living in lower level jobs. Some of his thoughts and actions I could understand, some I could not. For example, why wouldn't he let his wife find a job and he stay home and watch the kids?(which would much harder than working, let me tell you!) And why didn't he take a job while waiting for responses from the colleges he applied to, since his wife wasn't working? And he stands by and watches his savings go lower and lower. Some of these actions caused me to lose sympathy for him while reading a good portion of the book. One could say he was arrogant and a snob. But by the end he learns valuable lessons about family, work, life, and himself. It does read like a story rather than a clinical assessment. A worthwhile read.
it could happen to you.......2004-06-20
A brutally honest and intriguing look at the stages we go through when employed. The writer wasn't just unemployed, however, his former life as a college professor was golden enough to give a deep-set but false sense of security that things would always continue to be that good. But whatever you chalk up other people's unemployment, too, you can't dismiss Snyder's with an easy explanation. Finally, he moves his wife and children and began doing manual labor. Snyder doesn't shy away from portraying his less than flattering side, but when he finally tells his son, "You do the work right even when you're working for a jerk," you're on his side all the way.
Customer Reviews:
Evocative and Intelligent .......2005-04-10
Peter Bacho's Dark Blue Suit (1997) offers readers a book of short stories which reflect the struggles of a young Filipino-American boy whose father once labored in Alaskan canneries, "Dark Blue Suit". It is in this first short story, we see Buddy as a five-year old, watching his gruff but protective father, Vince, negotiate a complex world in which men fear, respect, and dislike Vince for an authority he carries with considerable strength. Buddy learns quickly how to read his father's "look" when he risks misbehaving but also recalls his father's gait before imitating him with pride.
Dark Blue Suit depicts the difficulty of being Filipino-American at a time in which US culture was ambivalent if not hostile to the presence of Filipinos. Bacho writes a poignant but sad tale in "August 1968" which chronicles Buddy's adolescent friendship with an African-American boy, Aaron, who eventually leaves for college only to return to the rising tensions which characterized the Civil Rights Movement. If Buddy's friendship collapses under the weight of cultural history, it is because Bacho argues that cultural appropriation of another culture has its limits and its consequences. "August 1968" offers an honest portrait of Buddy's affiliation with an African-American and the problems which occur when one assumes cultural privilege while performing his friend's race identity. Can one "act Black" and expect long-term affiliation? At what cost to one's own sense of self does appropriation take place? Given the pervasive influence of hip-hop culture among Filipino-American youth, Bacho's story offers a response to a question which persists even today.
The rest of the stories focus on Buddy's various relationships including friends and family. Buddy's history shapes him and the choices he makes. When he drives home to see a dying relative in "A Matter of Faith", Buddy relies not on his own faith which flickers against his ongoing doubts but on the faith of his uncle who believed deeply and lived out of his beliefs. When Buddy prays at the conclusion of the story, he does so not only out of respect for his uncle, but also as a means of engaging in a cultural memory which includes his uncle. His characters may struggle with religion and its attendant beliefs but he writes his characters with enough sophistication to provide them with a cultural history that does not deny Catholicism its rightful place in the lives of Filipino-Americans.
Dark Blue Suit is a powerful and beautiful work. Bacho's tight, precise style, reminiscent of Hemingway's masculine prose, never risks excessive description or wordy dialogue. He relies on what is said and the silences to carry the narrative through. As stories, Dark Blue Suit is not merely a set of impressionistic portraits, but a series of black and white photographs which gain force as one reads through to the end. One might recall the work of Sherwood Anderson or Sarah Orne Jewett as a means of comparison.
Not so bad. . .not so good........2001-06-05
Overall, I'm glad I read this book. With a few exceptions--the narrator and his father--I genuinely liked most of the characters in the book, but I found this to be a bit of a problem--they were all *characters.* Similarly, as I read the book, I sensed heroic adulation sprinkled liberally throughout. Unfortunately, many of the heroes exhibited behavior that shouldn't be emulated. I especially wondered about the rather heroic depiction of Buddy's father. His signature behaviors--intimidating those around him, whoring around on his wife, and ignoring the resulting children--aren't what passes for heroism. Overall, I was surprised the narrator didn't include a single story about a stable, well-adjusted, decent, family-man. Remarkably, the non-fictional, but ancillary, Taky Kimura did the best job of filling this role.
Furthermore, the role of women in the book was a bit strange. With the exception of Buddy's ever-so-religious, ever-so-pure mother, they were cast, rather angrily, as stupid whores. Since I wouldn't normally notice such things, the author must've done this explicitly. I don't understand what the author's motivation for this might have been.
Reads like fiction, sounds like life........1999-01-14
Bacho's book captured this reader, who upon intial reading thought it was a non-fiction work. The short-stories all come together to form a well-rounded and captivating story of Philipino Americans, especially in the Northwest.
As a filipino-american...........1998-05-08
I liked the stories in the book alot. I could understand what several of the characters were going thru almost like a slice of my own life. I highly recommend it for filipino-americans becoming of age and who see a need to understand the boundard between american and filipino cultures.
Peter Bacho is the literary Martin Scorsese of our time........1998-02-09
If you've ever wondered what the daily lives of the early Philipino immigrants to Seattle were like. Read this book. In vivid flowing prose Bacho captures the look and feel of Philipino life and culture in Seattle in the old days.
Book Description
The anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania, five hundred square miles of rugged hills stretching between Tower City and Carbondale, harbored coal deposits that once heated virtually all the homes and businesses in Eastern cities. At its peak during World War I, the coal industry here employed 170,000 miners, and supported almost 1,000,000 people. Today, with coal workers numbering 1,500, only 5,000 people depend on the industry for their livelihood. Between these two points in time lies a story of industrial decline, of working people facing incremental and cataclysmic changes in their world. When the Mines Closed tells this story in the words of men and women who experienced these dramatic changes and in more than eighty photographs of these individuals, their families, and the larger community.
Award-winning historian Thomas Dublin interviewed a cross-section of residents and migrants from the region, who gave their own accounts of their work and family lives before and after the mines closed. Most of the narrators, six men and seven women, came of age during the Great Depression and entered area mines or, in the case of the women, garment factories, in their teens. They describe the difficult choices they faced, and the long-standing ethnic, working-class values and traditions they drew upon, when after World War II the mines began to shut down. Some left the region, others commuted to work at a distance, still others struggled to find employment locally.
The photographs taken by George Harvan, a lifelong resident of the area and the son of a Slovak-born coal miner, document residents' lives over the course of fifty years. Dublin's introductory essay offers a brief history of anthracite mining and the region and establishes a broader interpretive framework for the narratives and photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Accurate View of Life in the Coal Regions.......2000-02-08
Most of us don't have books written about the neighborhoods and local institutions that we grew up with. This is particularly so for places off the beaten path like the Pennsylvania coal regions. I grew up in the 50's and early 60's just a few miles from the coal towns that form the geography of Mr. Dublin's book and went to some of the same schools as his narrator's children. My family worked for the coal companies and the garment factories at various times. These stories ring true from my experience - the reliance on family, the acceptance of 50 mile commutes to work rather than leave the area, the accurate concern that everyone for miles around knows your family business. The real value of this book for me is that these narratives show the commonality of experiences that I thought were unique. And, it also fills in many gaps about the social forces at work that I didn't realize existed in the lives of that generation. They shielded us from the dangereous aspects of some jobs, the lack of job security, labor-management tensions, and the potential need to migrate to make a living. For those readers without the personal ties to the coal regions this book provides a view of how tough the "golden years" of the 50's were for some Americans.
Colorful reflections from the dark world of coal.......1999-09-08
The beauty of this book lies in the fact that it does not attempt to analyze or comment upon. It simply presents the stories of ordinary men and women of this century in more or less their own words. All their lives in some way revolved around the dark world of Pennsylvania coal mining in the anthracite area of the Panther Valley. They are all refreshingly human, wonderfully straightforward, and tell deeply moving stories. Each in his or her own way reflects the rich cultural and ethical traditions brought here from European shores. The beauty of the book is its utter simplicity in approaching the mystery of the human personality against the backdrop of the drudgery of labor. It's a wonderful slice of life.
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