Labor Day Reading List

by: Clem Guttata

Mon Sep 07, 2009 at 07:19:14 AM EDT

David Sirota offers his "must-reads for anyone wishing to understand unions and the labor movement":

- Labor's Untold Story: Put out by the  United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, this is like a bible of the labor movement. It's been around for years, and remains one of the most important works out there. You'll read this book and realize what a sham your high school history books really are - because as the title says, this story truly is untold.

- Which Side Are You On?: One of the best books I've ever read, both for the sheer talent of its author and for the journey it takes the reader on. Author Thomas Geoghegan (who I sincerely believe is one of the top 5 writers in America today) draws on his experience as a labor lawyer to show us through his experiences exactly what challenges face the labor movement in the modern era. Geoghegan's The Secret Lives of Citizens is an unofficial sequel to this book - and it is just as good.

- A People's History of the United States: I almost didn't include this Howard Zinn masterpiece in this list, just because it is so well known that I initially felt that I didn't even have to mention it because everyone knows it.

- The Selling of Free Trade: John R. MacArthur's book is a page-turning look at how labor's agenda is regularly run over and crushed by both parties in Washington. For those who think people like Bill Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Bill Richardson and the Clintonite machine was/is friends to American workers, reading this book might make you realize how wrong that conclusion really is. Slightly more outdated - but equally compelling - is Bill Greider's Who Will Tell the People?

- John L. Lewis - A Biography: Lewis was probably the most important labor leader in the last 100 years, building up the United Mine Workers into a powerhouse during the 20th century. I have only just started this book, but I have read enough to know it gives you a good sense of why organized labor has been so important to all the things we take for granted now (say, for instance, the weekend) - and why it is no coincidence that the right-wing war on the middle class has accelerated at the very same time organized labor has declined in membership.