Reviewed by Cynthia Gwynne Yaudes | Book Review | The Indiana Magazine of History, 105.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to Indiana Magazine of History online. About 225 words from this article are provided below; about 512 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to Indiana Magazine of History, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to Indiana Magazine of History, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of Indiana Magazine of History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

Reviewed by Cynthia Gwynne Yaudes | Book Review | The Indiana Magazine of History, 105.1 | The History Cooperative

Reviews

Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900–1950

By Rosemary Feurer

(Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2006. Pp. xix, 320. Illustrations, notes, index. Cloth-bound, $65.00; paperbound, $25.00.)

The global capitalist supremacy that accompanied the thaw of the Cold War left the American labor movement unable to articulate alternatives to a system that continued to destroy communities, devastate the environment, and increase the distance between the haves and the have-nots. So reads the usual academic assessment of the state of American labor in the twenty-first century—a view with roots that reach back to the supposedly lean, lost decades that surrounded the First World War.

Rosemary Feurer acknowledges the dim outlook for labor in the new millennium, but she is not so pessimistic in her appraisal of when or how the trouble began. This is because she frames her analysis more broadly than the traditional labor history of great leaders stirring militancy on the shop floor to overcome the hegemony of large, multi-plant corporations. Her view extends to "labor's periphery," where a "militant minority endeavored to weld their workmates and neighbors into a self-aware and purposeful working class" (p. 236). This widened gaze—encompassing both workplace and community—allows her to note the substantive social change that seemed possible when workers confronted corporate power on the job and worked to transform their local community and the nation.

. . .

There are about 512 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.