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Book Review
Culture of Misfortune: An Interpretive History of Textile Unionism
in the United States. By Clete Daniel. (Ithaca: ILR, 2001. xii, 327
pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-8014-3853-5.)
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The problem child of the labor movement, textile unionism in the United States has been plagued by a history of failures. Workers have faced a chronically volatile industry located in two distinct regions, one of whichthe Southhad a reputation for "virulent" anti-unionism. To add to the difficulties, the cultures of northern and southern textile workers have been so different that it has been difficult for the latter to unite. While there is no dearth of attempts to explain textile unionism's fortunes in either region, few have examined the fortunes of textile unionism from a national perspective. Clete Daniel's institutional history does this, and this alone makes the book a noteworthy achievement. His research contributes to an important historiographic objective: a comprehensive assessment of the relative importance of industry structure, worker culture, political climate, and institutional leadership in determining textile unionism's success or failure. |
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