|
|
|
Reviews
| The "Great Strike": Perspectives on the 1902 Anthracite Coal Strike. Ed. by Kenneth C. Wolensky. Easton, Penn.: Canal History and Technology Press, 2002. x+140 pp., illus., tables, map, notes. $10 pb (ISBN 0-930973-28-3).
|
When 150,000 anthracite miners went on strike in May 1902, they had no idea that Theodore Roosevelt would establish a commission to help find a resolution between the miners and operators and that, as a result, their strike can be considered a milestone in labor and local history. The "Great Strike": Perspectives on the 1902 Anthracite Coal Strike is a collection of six papers presented at Luzerne County Community College during the 100th anniversary commemoration of the 1902 anthracite strike in Pennsylvania. The six essays vary in scholarship, manageability of topic, resources used, and overall quality, but they provide readers with a short peek at a major strike from a variety of viewpoints. Published by the Canal History and Technology Press, The "Great Strike" commemorates, recollects, and interprets the impact of the strike on labor, regional, and national history a century later. Intended for those interested in mining history, labor history, unionization, or Pennsylvania, this book could attract a wide audience. Those with industrial archaeology interests could also benefit from the book if they are concerned with change in industrial processes over time and the economic, physical, and psychological impacts of industrial processes on industry's workforce and financiers.
|
1
|
This compilation begins with a forward by Kenneth Wolensky (historian, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission), who introduces the reader to the strike and its commemoration.
|
2
|
The first essay is Robert Janosov's piece outlining the cultural and historical background of the period. Janosov is a professor of history at Luzerne County Community College who specializes in the industrial history of northeastern Pennsylvania. Through an examination of secondary sources, regional newspapers, and a few primary documents, he sets the stage for understanding the climate of the strike.
|
3
|
The next essay focuses on the impact of the press on the strike and its outcome. By focusing on one type of resource, the press, Joseph McKerns takes on a very manageable topic and is able to develop and execute his hypothesis that John Mitchell, the president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) during the strike, knew how to use the press to project different images. Mitchell chose an appropriate and slightly different image for each group involved in the struggle: mine workers, the public, the President, and the operators. McKerns uses excellent visuals in his short but provocative essay. As a professor of journalism and communication at Ohio State, McKerns was able to tap into regional and national newspapers from archives at his university as well as accounts from Pennsylvania from where his coal-miner ancestors hail.
|
4
|
Lance Metz authored the third essay, which discusses intimidation and violence during the strike. Although this strike is not known for being overly violent, Metz asserts that violence, the threat of violence, and intimidation made the strike successful. Metz focuses on The Allentown Morning Call, drawing from it appropriate quotations and a few cartoons to develop and support his thesis and to produce a well-researched essay.
|
5
|
The next essay by Robert Wolensky is not only longer than the other essays in the volume but also deals with a much larger topic: subcontracting. Wolensky, a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, covers everything from the origins of subcontracting, to how subcontracting affected miners, to the role of subcontracting in the strikes of 1900 and 1902. He largely employs secondary sources and census material in tackling his topic, providing in the process a good understanding of the anthracite subcontracting system and its potential to add to management-labor conflict.
|
6
|
The next-to-last essay, authored by Richard Healy, has an equally ambitious topic. Unlike the other essays, Healy focuses on the operators' points of view during the strike. A professor of geography at the University of Portsmouth in England, Healy examines the historical geography of industry in the United States. Opening with a background to the anthracite industry, he explores the principles under which the operators' worked and their approach to the strike, as well as the economics of the strike. His essay, which draws on both primary and secondary sources, offers readers a refreshing, alternative look at the strike. Without this essay, the book would be lacking a well-rounded approach.
|
7
|
Finally, Joseph Gowaskie wraps up this collection with an essay on John Mitchell. The title is "A Century Later," which is slightly misleading since it is not a historiographical essay. Instead Gowaskie provides a biography of Mitchell, explaining why he was successful for a period but did not remain the president of the UMWA forever. Gowaskie, currently a professor of history at Rider University, wrote his doctoral dissertation on Mitchell while at the Catholic University of America. Despite its position as the concluding chapter of the collection, Gowaskie's essay does not tie together earlier perspectives or themes.
|
8
|
This volume can provide readers with a good introduction to the 1902 anthracite strike and useful bibliographic information if the reader wishes to go further. Moreover, it is a significant contribution to the literature on the strike. Before its publication, readers could only turn to one major text (Robert J. Cornell, The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902, Washington: Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1957), some dispersed journal articles, and the strike commission report.
|
9
|
On the other hand, this collection suffers from the usual problems of collected works. Although most of the essays are well done and deal with manageable topics, a few make slow reading. More significantly, the volume does not contain a concluding essay to tie the various contributions together.
|
10
|
|
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|