Labor History Books (Study Guide) - Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What They Do, Union Democracy (Paperback)

This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, Union Democracy, the Making of the English Working Class, Ravenswood: the Steelworkers' Victory and the Revival of American Labor, History of Trade Unionism. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do is a book by the noted oral historian and radio broadcaster Studs Terkel. It is an exploration of what makes work meaningful for people in all walks of life: from Lovin' Al the parking valet, to Dolores the waitress, from the fireman to the business executive, the narratives move constantly between mundane details, emotional truths and existential questioning. Following a preface, a foreword, and an introduction, the volume is divided into nine "books," each of which contains one or more subsections that provide several accounts of working people's jobs and lives. These books tie their diverse content together with themes. These themes take the form of subtitles. Some books have only one theme (the theme of Book One is "Working the Land"); others have several. Book One contains stories by a farmer, a farm worker, a farm woman, a deep miner and his wife, a strip miner, and a heavy equipment oprerator. Here is a sample: "Working in the fields is not in itself a degrading job. It's hard, but if you're given regular hours, better pay, decent housing, unemployment and medical compensation, pension plans--we have a very relaxed way of living. But the growers don't recognize us as persons. That's the worst thing, the way they treat you. Like we have no brains. They have only a wallet in their head. The more you squeeze it, the more they cry out" (Roberto Acuna, farm w...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=487780