A History of America in Ten Strikes

Description

Platform: Loomis blogs at the hugely popular site Lawyers, Guns, and Money, with 550,000 unique visitors for over one million pageviews a month, where his ongoing series "This Day in Labor History" (the basis for this book) won the 2011 Cliopatria Award from the History News Network Media track record: Loomis's Out of Sight was featured in Salon, Truthout, In These Times, The Progressive, The Fiscal Times, and on radio Credentials: Loomis is a leading young scholar and public intellectual covering labor history. He is also an active commentator on contemporary politics, and his readers look to him to inform the present with knowledge of the past. He is listed on the "Professor Watchlist" of the right-wing Turning Point USA, alongside such other progressive threats as Brittney Cooper, Juan Cole, and Peter Singer Material: Wonderfully accessible introductory format; there are no other obvious introductory texts in labor history Serialization potential: Each chapter will stand alone and can be published as a "this day in history" format, for which Loomis is well known based on his online series of the same name New Press labor track record:From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend sold 18,000 copies combined; Lexicon sold 14,000 copies combined.

Erik Loomis is an associate professor of history at the University of Rhode Island. He blogs at Lawyers, Guns, and Money on labor and environmental issues past and present. His work has also appeared in AlterNet, Truthout, and Salon. The author of Empire of Timber, he lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Praise for A History of America in Ten Strikes: A Kirkus Reviews Best Book Named one of the "5 Books About Famous Strikes That Demonstrated the Historical Importance of Civil Disobedience" by Bustle "The narrative of Ten Strikes integrates all the ingredients of a good work of history: events, structures, transformation, and critique, viewed from the perspectives of both the historical actors and the historian." -The Nation "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 timely book. . . . We have to use these strikes to shore up the very power to strike. Only that will ensure strikes aren't relegated to the history books." -In These Times "Loomis, a labor historian, offers clear narratives about the 10 strikes of the title, emphasizing the pivotal role of women in the labor movement. . . He also doesn't flinch when describing the less savory sides of the American labor movement." -Publishers Weekly "[A History of America in Ten Strikes] provides an edifying look at the abuse of power in America that. . . is evocative of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States." -Booklist "Each chapter of this well-told saga could stand on its own. . . . Loomis delivers a jargon-free, clearly written history." -Kirkus Review (starred review) "A brilliantly recounted American history through the prism of major labor struggles, with critically important lessons for those who seek a better future for working people and the world." -Noam Chomsky Praise for Erik Loomis's Out of Sight: "One of the top voices chronicling the struggles of the twenty-first-century labor movement. Loomis's blunt, witty, take-no-prisoners style always promises an exciting read." -Sarah Jaffe "A detailed and devastating critique by a brilliant historian." -John Nichols, The Progressive "The arrival of Out of Sight could not have been better timed. Erik Loomis prescribes how activists can take back our country-for workers and for those who care about the health of our planet." -Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) "The rise of unbridled corporate power has been a disaster in so many ways-including the ability of the 1 percent to intimidate the rest of us into remaining silent lest we displease our masters. The story told here is tragic and important." -Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy "Erik Loomis has globalized [Upton Sinclair's] The Jungle. He shows that the most important reason for U.S. corporations to produce abroad is to avoid the regulations that books like The Jungle produced. Perhaps Out of Sight can prompt a similar movement on behalf of workers around the world, our planetary environment, and, yes, we who wear the clothes and eat the sausage that 'they' produce." -James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me "In this dazzling overview of industrial history, Erik Loomis shows how we can-no, we must-fight for both decent jobs and a clean environment. We can do so by not letting the corporations escape 'out of sight.' We need to think and act as globally as corporations do, and force them to respect rights wherever they go. This book is a must-read for people who care about jobs and the environment." -Aviva Chomsky, professor of history at Salem State University and author of Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal "Well-written and informative . . . shows the many strong connections between workplace catastrophes, poor working conditions, diseases, and environmental disasters. Highly recommended." -Kalpona Akter, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, Dhaka "A passionate condemnation of the power that corporations hold over our lives, Erik Loomis shows that capitalism's geography is a central element in class conflicts." -Andrew Herod, Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University of Georgia "Erik Loomis shows that our systems remain broken, and it is our planet and her people, particularly the most marginalized communities, who are paying the price. However, there is hope in collective action." -Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program