A History of America in Ten Strikes

Written by Erik Loomis

Narrated by Brian Troxell

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018

Named one of the “5 Books About Famous Strikes That Demonstrated the Historical Importance of Civil Disobedience” by Bustle

“Loomis refuses to romanticize this period or the labor movement it produced. . . . What Loomis’s book perhaps does best is remind us that the promise of the labor movement, despite its many failures and compromises, has always been to make everyday life more democratic.”
—The New Republic

A thrilling and timely account of ten moments in history when labor challenged the very nature of power in America, by the author called “a brilliant historian” by The Progressive magazine

Powerful and accessible, A History of America in Ten Strikes challenges all of our contemporary assumptions around labor, unions, and American workers. In this brilliant book, labor historian Erik Loomis recounts ten critical workers’ strikes in American labor history that everyone needs to know about (and then provides an annotated list of the 150 most important moments in American labor history in the appendix). From the Lowell Mill Girls strike in the 1830s to Justice for Janitors in 1990, these labor uprisings do not just reflect the times in which they occurred, but speak directly to the present moment.

For example, we often think that Lincoln ended slavery by proclaiming the slaves emancipated, but Loomis shows that they freed themselves during the Civil War by simply withdrawing their labor. He shows how the hopes and aspirations of a generation were made into demands at a GM plant in Lordstown in 1972. And he takes us to the forests of the Pacific Northwest in the early nineteenth century where the radical organizers known as the Wobblies made their biggest inroads against the power of bosses. But there were also moments when the movement was crushed by corporations and the government; Loomis helps us understand the present perilous condition of American workers and draws lessons from both the victories and defeats of the past.

In crystalline narratives, labor historian Erik Loomis lifts the curtain on workers’ struggles, giving us a fresh perspective on American history from the boots up.

Strikes include:

Lowell Mill Girls Strike (Massachusetts, 1830–40)

Slaves on Strike (The Confederacy, 1861–65)

The Eight-Hour Day Strikes (Chicago, 1886)

The Anthracite Strike (Pennsylvania, 1902)

The Bread and Roses Strike (Massachusetts, 1912)

The Flint Sit-Down Strike (Michigan, 1937)

The Oakland General Strike (California, 1946)

Lordstown (Ohio, 1972)

Air Traffic Controllers (1981)

Justice for Janitors (Los Angeles, 1990)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Mar 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781721340149

Erik Loomis

Erik Loomis is an associate professor of history at the University of Rhode Island. He blogs at Lawyers, Guns, and Money (https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/author/erik-loomis) on labor and environmental issues past and present. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Dissent, and the New Republic. The author of Out of Sight and A History of America in Ten Strikes (both from The New Press) as well as Empire of Timber, he lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews for A History of America in Ten Strikes

[Andrew Farnsworth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and moving takes off workers who were pushed to their limits (in most cases) and decided to strike. The strikes are all given context so you know the general history of the time period. A good book of social and socialist history.

[Atticus Foster · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Do you want to be depressed and hopeless about the state of labour for the next week? If you answered yes, this is the book for you. 10 Strikes clearly and factually lays out the history of labour relations throughout American history, in a no punches pulled way. It makes it clear that police and the government are no friend to the worker, and never have been. It does however have a few issues: it treats anarchism as a fringe belief and down plays its importance to labour history, it promotes voting as much more important than it is, and it advocates that capitalism does not need to be replaced to ensure true free labour. Besides these issues, it is extremely informative and I've enjoyed it immensely.

[mitchellray · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Erik Loomis has written an informative history of labor strikes in the United States. Contrary to its title, the book is more a history of the U.S. labor movement than a more comprehensive history of America as perceived through the perspective of workers. Nonetheless, Loomis informs readers of an important and often neglected aspect of American history. Readers will learn of the violence, racism, and sexism that has permeated American society and labor from the country’s start. Loomis describes in detail the roles of government, employers, and workers in the history of labor in the United States. This is a book to be read by those interested in American history, politics, social movements, business, and labor. Those wanting a deeper understanding of current events and conflicts within American society will also find this book an informative read.