| "John
Laslett has managed to assemble here virtually the entire community
of scholars studying the history of mine unionism in America. What
they offer us is not mere 'introduction' but a remarkable distillation
of the best and most provocative thinking on the subject today. For
the United Mine Workers, this volume is a worthy monument to a century
of hard struggle and, for students of that struggle, it is and will
long remain the place where serious study begins."-David Brody, University
of California, Davis
"I will not hide my enthusiasm for this book. I cannot think of
an equivalent anthology that so well covers the history of a vital
trade and a vital union."-Walter Licht, University of Pennsylvania
Developing initially out of a conference commemorating the hundredth
anniversary of the United Mine Workers of America, this collection
of essays evaluates the history, development, and contribution to
the labor movement of arguably America's most influential trade
union. Founded by white, Anglo-Saxon pick miners in 1890, the UMWA
had become by World War I the largest, most powerful, and in many
ways the most progressive labor organization in the American Federation
of Labor. Its critical influence is shown in its pioneering role
in the development of industrial unionism, in its efforts at interracial
and interethnic organizing, and in its indispensable role in founding
and guiding the CIO between 1935 and 1955.
The essays-most commissioned especially for this volume-also examine
the impact of mechanization on the coal industry, issues of health,
safety, and company control, ethnic and race relations among the
miners, the long-neglected role of women in coal-mining communities,
and the influence of the leadership of John Mitchell and John L.
Lewis. The final section looks at the UMWA's efforts to renew itself
as a democratic and dynamic organization in recent decades.
Contributors are John H. M. Laslett, Perry K. Blatz, Craig Phelan,
Alan J. Singer, Robert H. Zieger, Keith Dix, Price V. Fishback,
Alan Derickson, George S. Goldstein, Joe W. Trotter, Jr., Ronald
L. Lewis, Mildred Allen Beik, Priscilla Long, Stephanie E. Booth,
Isaac Cohen, David Frank, Paul F. Clark, Marat Moore, James R. Green,
and Maier B. Fox. |
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