Previously was reading history, nowadays it's mostly gardening and coding.
This link opens in a pop-up window
I stopped reading this at page 43 because the level of pure speculation and conjecture just became too great. The author attributes beliefs, behavior, and actions to Mother Jones that in no way can be made with such conviction, and his understanding of labor history is weak. This is just irresponsible scholarship.
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America is a 2012 non-fiction …
Investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 …
This is an excellent introduction to the tomato industry, farmwork, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Estabrook explores the history of the tomato, its taste and biology, how/when (~1870) and why ("green, cheap, and off-season") tomato farming came to Florida, the fragility of the industry, and the heavy usage of pesticides and other chemicals. Most importantly, it is about the workers who pick the tomatoes. The most engaging and interesting section of the book was the four or so chapters in the middle on their conditions, the creation of the CIW, improvements made, the Fair Food Agreement, Code, etc. The broader context of the industry, including the opinions and circumstances of growers and consumers, makes the story all the more real. He also discusses alternatives (including one whole chapter) to large-scale, chemically based, industrial farming.
Investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 …
This is an excellent introduction to the tomato industry, farmwork, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Estabrook explores the history of the tomato, its taste and biology, how/when (~1870) and why ("green, cheap, and off-season") tomato farming came to Florida, the fragility of the industry, and the heavy usage of pesticides and other chemicals. Most importantly, it is about the workers who pick the tomatoes. The most engaging and interesting section of the book was the four or so chapters in the middle on their conditions, the creation of the CIW, improvements made, the Fair Food Agreement, Code, etc. The broader context of the industry, including the opinions and circumstances of growers and consumers, makes the story all the more real. He also discusses alternatives (including one whole chapter) to large-scale, chemically based, industrial farming.
Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane's long-awaited eighth …
Kimeldorf's main argument is that the American working class is not conservative nor bereft of class consciousness and that these supposed traits do not explain how the AFL became the dominant union structure in the first quarter of the 20th century. Despite different ideologies, he argues that the AFL and IWW were both "syndicalist" (a claim that rests on his misunderstanding of the meaning of that term, reducing it to just direct action at the point of production), and most rank-and-file workers were more concerned about bettering their conditions in the here and now than any far-off dream, whether that of AFL or IWW. He doesn't really succeed in his argument – sure, workers were not conservative, but that's not because they embraced his false definition of syndicalism.
He discusses the IWW at length on the docks in Philadelphia, and then uses their brief attempt at organizing restaurant and hotel …
Kimeldorf's main argument is that the American working class is not conservative nor bereft of class consciousness and that these supposed traits do not explain how the AFL became the dominant union structure in the first quarter of the 20th century. Despite different ideologies, he argues that the AFL and IWW were both "syndicalist" (a claim that rests on his misunderstanding of the meaning of that term, reducing it to just direct action at the point of production), and most rank-and-file workers were more concerned about bettering their conditions in the here and now than any far-off dream, whether that of AFL or IWW. He doesn't really succeed in his argument – sure, workers were not conservative, but that's not because they embraced his false definition of syndicalism.
He discusses the IWW at length on the docks in Philadelphia, and then uses their brief attempt at organizing restaurant and hotel food employees in New York to examine successive organizations and their tactics. He looks at the influence of the direct action tactics of the IWW on both workers and rival unions, and suggests that the IWW has a more enduring presence in the U.S. labor movement than assumed, and that it forced the AFL to be more direct-action oriented.
Kimeldorf's main argument is that the American working class is not conservative nor bereft of class consciousness and that these supposed traits do not explain how the AFL became the dominant union structure in the first quarter of the 20th century. Despite different ideologies, he argues that the AFL and IWW were both "syndicalist" (a claim that rests on his misunderstanding of the meaning of that term, reducing it to just direct action at the point of production), and most rank-and-file workers were more concerned about bettering their conditions in the here and now than any far-off dream, whether that of AFL or IWW. He doesn't really succeed in his argument – sure, workers were not conservative, but that's not because they embraced his false definition of syndicalism.
He discusses the IWW at length on the docks in Philadelphia, and then uses their brief attempt at organizing restaurant and hotel …
Kimeldorf's main argument is that the American working class is not conservative nor bereft of class consciousness and that these supposed traits do not explain how the AFL became the dominant union structure in the first quarter of the 20th century. Despite different ideologies, he argues that the AFL and IWW were both "syndicalist" (a claim that rests on his misunderstanding of the meaning of that term, reducing it to just direct action at the point of production), and most rank-and-file workers were more concerned about bettering their conditions in the here and now than any far-off dream, whether that of AFL or IWW. He doesn't really succeed in his argument – sure, workers were not conservative, but that's not because they embraced his false definition of syndicalism.
He discusses the IWW at length on the docks in Philadelphia, and then uses their brief attempt at organizing restaurant and hotel food employees in New York to examine successive organizations and their tactics. He looks at the influence of the direct action tactics of the IWW on both workers and rival unions, and suggests that the IWW has a more enduring presence in the U.S. labor movement than assumed, and that it forced the AFL to be more direct-action oriented.
