Labour's Online Bookstore - Recent LabourStart Books of the Day

If you're looking for the name of book we mentioned recently, here's a recent list of our Books of the Day. Every day of the week, LabourStart features a book on its front page.

Remember: Every book you purchase by clicking on a link below directly benefits LabourStart and its campaigning activities. Thank you!

(Click on the book title for more information or to purchase the book.)

• Development NGOs and Labor Unions: Terms of Engagement by Deborah Eade and Alan Leather (editors) - Development NGOs and labor unions have much to gain from collaborating in the pursuit of social justice and rights agenda, yet the two sectors have traditionally tended to operate independently of one another. The essays collected here elucidate some of the underlying tensions and illustrate the scope for constructive and respectful dialogue -- and potential partnership -- between them. [10-09-2007] Current events
• Lament for the Molly Maguires by Arthur H Lewis - The award-winning book that inspired the film with Sean Connery. Our third book on the subject of the Molly Maguires. [09-09-2007] Labour history - USA
• Making Sense of the Molly Maguires by Kevin Kenny - Our second book this week about the Molly Maguires, who were also the subject of a film. See also yesterday's The Molly Maguires by Anthony Bimba. [08-09-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Molly Maguires by Anthony Bimba - A classic history of the forgotten history of the Molly Maguires, Pennsylvania minors who organized to improve their miserable working conditions in the 1870s, only to be met with the fierce repression that characterized labor relations in this industry for decades. [07-09-2007] Labour history - USA
• Like Night and Day: Unionization in a Southern Mill Town by Daniel J. Clark - Daniel Clark demonstrates the dramatic impact unionization made on the lives of textile workers in Henderson, North Carolina, in the decade after World War II. Focusing on the Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills, he shows that workers valued the Textile Workers Union of America for more than the higher wages and improved benefits it secured for them. Specifically, Clark points to the importance members placed on union-instituted grievance and arbitration procedures, which most labor historians have seen as impediments rather than improvements. From the signing of contracts in 1943 until a devastating strike fifteen years later, the union gave local workers the tools they needed to secure at least some measure of workplace autonomy and respect from their employer. Union-instituted grievance procedures were not without flaws, says Clark, but they were the linchpin of these efforts. When arbitration and grievance agreements collapsed in 1958, the result was the strike that ultimately broke the union. Based on complete access to company archives and transcripts of grievance hearings, this case study recasts our understanding of labor-management relations in the postwar South. [06-09-2007] Labour history - USA
• Labor Day by Carmen Bredeson - Our fourth title for children about Labor Day, this time from the "Rookie Read-About Series". [05-09-2007] Children
• Labor Day by Mari C. Schuh - Our third Labor Day title for children, this time from the "National Holidays" series. [04-09-2007] Children
• Labor Day by Mir Tamim Ansary - Part of the "Holiday Histories" series for children. [03-09-2007] Children
• Labor Day by Lynn Hamilton - Part of the "American Holidays" series of children's books. [02-09-2007] Children
• The Worker's Festival: A History of Labour Day in Canada by Craig Heron - For most Canadians today, Labour Day is the last gasp of summer fun: the final long weekend before returning to the everyday routine of work or school. But over its century-long history, there was much more to the September holiday than just having a day off. In The Workers Festival, Craig Heron and Steve Penfold examine the complicated history of Labour Day from its origins as a spectacle of skilled workers in the 1880s through to its declaration as a national statutory holiday in 1894 and finally to its reinvention throughout the twentieth century. The holiday's inventors hoped to blend labour solidarity, community celebration, and increased leisure time by organizing parades, picnics, speeches, and other forms of respectable leisure. As the holiday evolved, so too did the rituals, with trade unionists embracing new forms of parading, negotiating, and bargaining, and other social groups re-shaping it and making it their own. Heron and Penfold also examine how Labour Day's monopoly as the workers' holiday has been challenged since its founding by alternative festivals such as May Day and International Women's Day. The Workers' Festival ranges widely into many key themes of labour history--union politics and rivalries, radical movements, religion (Catholic and Protestant), race and gender, and consumerism/leisure--as well as cultural history--public celebration/urban procession, urban space and communication, and popular culture. from St. John's to Victoria, the authors follow the century-long development of the holiday in all its varied forms. [01-09-2007] Labour history - Canada
• Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie - The autobiography. [31-08-2007] Music
• Woody Guthrie: America's Folksinger by Karen Muelle Coombs - With hit songs like "This Land is Your Land, " folksinger and composer Woody Guthrie touched the lives of countless people. Although his incredible talent and genius were not fully acknowledged during his lifetime, he never stopped writing the songs inspired by the beauty of America's landscapes and the lives of America's people. [30-08-2007] Music
• Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People by Bonnie Christensen - Woody Guthrie spent his life putting into words and music what the rest of America was thinking. He roamed from coast to coast and captured the despair of those displaced by the Great Depression and the dust bowl, eulogized workers, and celebrated the great natural beauty of America. This is an introductory biography presented as a picture book with a brief lyrical text and powerful, hand-tinted, woodcut-like illustrations. It includes the complete lyrics to "This Land Is Your Land" and excerpts from his other songs. A book for all ages, it makes this talented and tragic man accessible to young children and will please his older folksinging fans with its stunning art. [29-08-2007] Music
• This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie by Elizabeth Partridge - Before Springsteen and before Dylan, there was Woody Guthrie. With "This Machine Kills Fascists," scrawled across his guitar in big black letters, Woody Guthrie brilliantly captured in song the experience of twentieth-century America. Whether he sang about union organizers, migrant workers, or war, Woody took his inspiration from the plights of the people around him as well as from his own tragic childhood. From the late 1920s to the 1950s, Guthrie wrote the words to more than three thousand songs-including "This Land is Your Land," a song many call America's unofficial national anthem. With a remarkable ability to turn any experience into a song almost instantaneously, Woody Guthrie spoke out for people of all colors and races, setting an example for generations of musicians to come. But Woody didn't have the chance to find everything he was looking for. He was ravaged by Huntington's disease, just like his mother, and died in a mental institution at the age of fifty-five. [28-08-2007] Music
• Success While Others Fail: Social Movement Unionism and the Public Workplace by Paul Johnston - Johnson draws upon his experiences as a union organizer, as well as detailed case studies of union campaigns by janitors, nurses and public sector workers. When public sector workers build coalitions around the work they do, he argues, they can serve as powerful advocates for public needs and simultaneously strengthen their struggle for improved wages and conditions. [27-08-2007] Organizing
• Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement by Staughton Lynd - Twelve essays written between 1970 and 1995, including one on 'solidarity unionism' [26-08-2007] Organizing
• The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States by William Bigelow - Curriculum materials for middle and high school teachers on the history of work and workers in the United States, including units on workers rights, exploitation, scientific management, the Homestead and Lawrence strikes, racial conflict and the labor movement, labor songs, and more. Includes lesson plans, hand-outs for students, and other resources. [25-08-2007] Education
• Revolutionary Industrial Unionism: The Industrial Workers of the World in Australia by Verity Burgmann - A history of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Australia, this book is both lively and scholarly. [24-08-2007] IWW
• American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century by Philip S. Foner - Hardcover, Used. To hear some of these songs, tune in to Radio LabourStart. [23-08-2007] Music
• Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich - The bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed goes back undercover to do for America's ailing middle class what she did for the working poor. Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in Bait and Switch, she enters another hidden realm of the economy: the shadowy world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible résumé of a professional "in transition," she attempts to land a middle-class job — undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then trawling a series of EST-like boot camps, job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She gets an image makeover, works to project a winning attitude, yet is proselytized, scammed, lectured, and — again and again — rejected. Bait and Switch highlights the people who've done everything right — gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive résumés — yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster, and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today's ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their "surplus" employees — plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for these newly disposable workers — and little security even for those who have jobs. On sale at a discount of 30% off. [22-08-2007] Current events
• From the Folks Who Brought You The Weekend by Priscilla Murolo and A.B. Chitty, illustrated by Joe Sacco - This is a sweeping, highly readable history of U.S. labor that will be welcomed by anyone interested in learning more about the struggle of American working people to better their lives through collective action. [21-08-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Union Steward’s Guide, Spanish Edition by David Prosten (editor) - This bound, 75-page photocopy compilation contains more than 125 articles from the Spanish language edition of Steward Update newsletter, read today by more than 75,000 stewards across North America. Ten chapters with a full table of contents for each chapter; illustrated. [20-08-2007] Organizing
• It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! RSI Theory and Therapy by Suparna Damany, MSPT and Jack Bellis - Millions of workers use computers on the job today, and millions more perform repetitive tasks that don’t involve a computer keyboard. When these workers’ hands start hurting, the authors say, the diagnoses frequently is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and the recommended cure is surgery. That diagnoses can be wrong more often than right, the authors say: the problem most likely is a Repetitive Strain Injury, and the problem can be treated without surgery. [19-08-2007] Health and safety
• The Night Worker by Kate Banks, illustrated by Georg Hallensleben - This is a wonderful book for families to read together as a beginning for discussions about just what it is that parents do when they go to work every day. Written for children ages two through six, The Night Worker tells of Alex, whose Papa one night presents him with his very own hard hat and takes him to the construction site where Papa works as an engineer. [18-08-2007] Children
• Robert’s Dictionary of Industrial Relations, 4th edition by Harold S. Roberts - This is a dictionary of virtually every term a labor relations professional or union leader will ever encounter. It lists and briefly describes every law, union, bargaining term, personnel practice, important legal precedent, historical trend, and government agency that is ever likely to be called into play in the labor-management world. [17-08-2007] Organizing
• The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement by Susan Ferriss and Ricardo Sandoval - No man in this century has had more of an impact on the lives of Hispanic Americans, and especially farmworkers, than the legendary Cesar Chavez. Born to migrant workers in 1927, he attended 65 elementary schools before finishing 7th grade, the end of his formal education. Through hard work, charisma and uncommon bravery he moved on to become founder and leader of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) and to win a degree of justice for tens of thousands of workers ... and to set a moral example for the nation. [16-08-2007] Labour history - USA
• Two-Headed Space Alien Shrinks Labor Movement by Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki - Loyal fans of these great labor and political cartoonists will welcome their latest collection, featuring work published in union newspapers and magazines, liberal journals and even the occasional mainstream magazine and newspaper over a five-year period, 1998 through 2003. [15-08-2007] Current events
• The ACLU Guide to the Rights of Employees and Union Members by Wayne N. Outten, Robert J. Rabin, Lisa R. Lipman - This comprehensive handbook answers hundreds of workers' most common employment- and union-related questions, from explaining what pension "vesting" is and the law on overtime to a worker's rights as a union member, including the law on union elections, union discipline and loads of other issues. 604 pages. [14-08-2007] Law
• Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser - Yesterday's Labour Book of the Day was the classic 'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair, published 100 years ago. Today, a worthy sequel -- Schlosser's best-selling account of what 21st century capitalism has done to food production and sales. Read this book and you'll never eat in a McDonald's again. [13-08-2007] Current events
• Jungle: The Uncensored Original Edition by Upton Sinclair - The original full-length text of the classic novel For nearly a century, the original version of Upton Sinclair's classic novel has remained almost entirely unknown. When it was published in serial form in 1905, it was a full third longer than the censored, commercial edition published in book form the following year. That commercial edition left out much of Sinclair's most pointed social and political commentary. The text of this new edition is as it appeared in the original uncensored edition of 1905. It contains the full 36 chapters as originally published, rather than the 31 of the expurgated edition. A new foreword describes the discovery in the 1980s of the original edition, and a new introduction places the novel in historical context by explaining the pattern of censorship in the shorter commercial edition. [12-08-2007] Literature
• Slaughterhouse Blues: The Meat and Poultry Industry in North America by Donald D. Stull - This year is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which will be our book of the day tomorrow. As for this book, the publisher writes "draws on more than 15 years of research by the authors, a cultural anthropologist and a social geographer, to present a detailed look at the meat and poultry industry in the United States and Canada". [11-08-2007] Current events
• Strike Songs of the Depression by Timothy P. Lynch - Labour communications includes labour music -- a message we're spreading through Radio LabourStart and books like this one. [10-08-2007] Music
• Voice of Southern Labor: Radio Music and Textile Strikes 1929-1934 by Vincent J Roscigno - The 1934 strike of southern textile workers, involving nearly 400,000 mill hands, remains perhaps the largest collective mobilization of workers in U.S. history. How these workers came together in the face of the powerful and coercive opposition of management and the state is the remarkable story at the center of this book. The Voice of Southern Labor chronicles the lives and experiences of southern textile workers and provides a unique perspective on the social, cultural, and historical forces that came into play when the group struck, first in 1929, and then on a massive scale in 1934. The workers' grievances, solidarity, and native radicalism of the time were often reflected in the music they listened to and sang, and Vincent J. Roscigno and William F. Danaher offer an in-depth context for understanding this intersection of labor, politics, and culture. The authors show how the message of the southern mill hands spread throughout the region with the advent of radio and the rise of ex-mill worker musicians, and how their sense of opportunity was further bolstered by Franklin D. Roosevelt's radio speeches and policies. [09-08-2007] Music
• The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements by Dan Clawson - The U.S. labor movement may be on the verge of massive growth, according to Dan Clawson. He argues that unions don't grow slowly and incrementally, but rather in bursts. Even if the AFL-CIO could organize twice as many members per year as it now does, it would take thirty years to return to the levels of union membership that existed when Ronald Reagan was elected president. In contrast, labor membership more than quadrupled in the years from 1934 to 1945. For there to be a new upsurge, Clawson asserts, labor must fuse with social movements concerned with race, gender, and global justice. [08-08-2007] Current events
• Labor Strife and the Economy in the 1970's: A Decade of Discord by Michael J. Kapsa - A micro-level analysis of strike activity in US manufacturing from 1971 through 1980, based on a large data sample of collective bargaining units and strike occurrence, and focusing on the conditions surrounding the breakdown of negotiations into a strike. Kapsa distinguishes between strikes initiated by management, which he calls defensive, and those initiated by workers, which he calls aggressive. He concludes that chances for an aggressive strike rise when socio-economic conditions enhance workers' strength, and vice versa. Studying strikes as an aggregate, he warns, could warp findings and policy. [07-08-2007] Labour history - USA
• Grounded: Reagan and the Patco Crash by Michael A. Round - Presents a detailed chronicle of the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike, drawing heavily on a review of other accounts, documents, reports, and more general works on labor. Overviews issues related to public sector collective bargaining, then describes the backgrounds and aims of the Federal Aviation Administration and PATCO. Discusses issues surrounding statute and statutory discretion, and examines elements in Reagan's personal and professional life and political career that led him to deny federal workers the right to strike. [06-08-2007] Labour history - USA
• The New Labor Radicalism and New York City's Garment Industry: Progressive Labor Insurgents During the 1960s by Leigh David Benin - Examines how Progressive Labor (PL), an antirevisionist offshoot of the Community Party USA, attempted to revolutionize the labor front in New York City's garment industry during the 1960s. Discusses the origins of PL, the development of its antirevisionist theory, and its labor organizing practices during the 1960s and 1970s. Considers PL's organizing activities in New York City's industrial heartland, looking at the party's critique of the ILGWU, PL-led work stoppages in garment trucking, a PL-led wildcat strike, and the anticommunist purge which followed the strike. [05-08-2007] Labour history - USA
• Trade Unions and the Betrayal of the Unemployed: Labor Conflicts During the 1990's by Immanuel Ness - From the series 'Garland Studies in the History of American Labor'. Published in 1998. [04-08-2007] Labour history - USA
• Central Labor Councils and the Revival of American Unionism: Organizing for Justice in Our Communities by Immanuel Ness - Local federations to coordinate activities among local unions separated by craft and industrial jurisdiction were strong until the middle of the 20th century when their power waned. Leaders of mainstream unions and researchers in labor studies and political science examine efforts in the 1990s to revive them to support local organizing and help expand labor's economic and political power. [03-08-2007] Current events
• Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market by Immanuel Ness - In recent years, New Yorkers have been surprised to see workers they had taken for granted -- Mexicans in greengroceries, West African supermarket deliverymen and South Asian limousine drivers --striking, picketing, and seeking support for better working conditions. Suddenly, businesses in New York and the nation had changed and were now dependent upon low-paid immigrants to fill the entry-level jobs that few native-born Americans would take. Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market tells the story of these workers' struggle for living wages, humane working conditions, and the respect due to all people. It describes how they found the courage to organize labor actions at a time when most laborers have become quiescent and while most labor unions were ignoring them. Showing how unions can learn from the example of these laborers, and demonstrating the importance of solidarity beyond the workplace, Immanuel Ness offers a telling look into the lives of some of America's newest immigrants. [02-08-2007] Current events
• Framed! Labor and the Corporate Media by Christopher R. Martin - Most any unionist who’s ever been forced to walk a picket line has first-hand knowledge of how the real issues in their strike are buried -- if ever really discussed at all -- in the media’s coverage. In this new (published 2004) and thoughtful book, a professor of communication studies documents the media bias against labor in a shocking and compelling way. [01-08-2007] Organizing
• Grassroots Journalism: A Practical Manual for Newswriting by Eesha Williams - This is a very helpful tool for activists who need – or want – to write about working peoples’ issues for their union newsletters, community newspapers and other media outlets. The author cites examples where grassroots journalism had a real impact on peoples’ lives, tells how to zero in on the issues in a community that will motivate readers to address concerns, and gives plenty of counsel on actual research and writing techniques to help you do the best job possible. [31-07-2007] Organizing
• The Negotiation Handbook by Patrick J. Cleary - A helpful tool for anyone whose union work puts him or her at the negotiating table. The author is a former chairman of the National Mediation Board, where he spent five years helping labor and management work out their bargaining deadlocks. [30-07-2007] Organizing
• Office Politics: Computers, Labor, and the Fight for Safety and Health by Vernon Mogensen - The publisher writes: The desktop computer has transformed office work. Business and social forecasters claimed that the use of video display terminals (VDTs) in the "office of the future" would free workers from routine tasks, giving them more time for creative work and chances for career advancement. "Office Politics" argues that, for many VDT workers, most of whom are non-unionized women in low-paying, dead-end jobs, exactly the opposite has been true. VDTs have been used to routinize office tasks; to export work via satellite to low-wage, nonunion offshore offices; to de-skill workers and monitor their productivity. And the nature of the work has led to widespread health and safety problems, including vision, musculoskeletal (repetitive motion), and stress-related illnesses. As office workers sought to protect themselves against these new occupational health and safety problems, they found little help from organized labor, business, or the government. "Office Politics" is the first book to explain why. It shows how corporate interests successfully Redefined the VDT health and safety crisis as a "comfort" problem, how the Government refused to collect data on the true scope of VDT-related illnesses or to regulate Information Age industries, and how labor unions initially ignored women workers. From 1996, but still relevant. And save $4.05 off the publisher's price. [29-07-2007] Health and safety
• Labour After Soviet Socialism: Autoworkers and Their Unions in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus by David Mandel - The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a period of steep economic decline, followed by economic reform, soaring inflation, corruption and crime. Despite the fact that unions were part of the State and that membership was obligatory, incorporating 98 percent of the labor force, millions of workers were not paid their wages. Based upon an abundance of first-hand material, "Labour After Soviet Socialism "examines the complex interplay of history, ideology, leadership, state policy and economics, to explain the difficulty workers have encountered in defending their interests. David Mandel, labor scholar and activist, teaches political science at the University of Quebec, Montreal. He is co-founder of the School for Worker Democracy, which conducts rank-and-file labor education in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. [28-07-2007] Current events
• Strike! by Jeremy Brecher - This book tells you something your school history books almost certainly did not: how working Americans for the past 125 years have used the strike again and again to win a degree of justice and fair play. [27-07-2007] Labour history - USA
• Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW by Stewart Bird, Dan Georgakas and Deborah Shaffe - Founded in 1905, the Wobblies aspired to bring all workers into a single, huge union that could be strong enough to do battle with the corporate giants of their time and help build an economic system in which production would be geared for the public good rather than for private profit. [26-07-2007] IWW
• Rocking the Boat by Brigid O Farrell and Joyce L. Kornbluh - Women have had to fight for their rightful place in American life -- the right to own property, to vote, to work in "men's" jobs. They’ve had to fight for their place in the labor movement as well, and this book does a great job of recounting that struggle. [25-07-2007] Current events
• Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line by Ben Hamper - Ben Hamper spent ten years on a General Motors assembly line in Flint, Mich., a self-identified 'shoprat' like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. His depiction of the work is both hilarious and depressing and enough to make you want to get a nice office job somewhere. [24-07-2007] Current events
• Organize or die by Mark Breslin - With a 100 percent focus on the building trades, the author outlines a businesslike strategy for increasing market share. [23-07-2007] Organizing
• This Won't Hurt A Bit by Timothy Sheard - This is a fun, engaging, well-written mystery starring Philadelphia hospital custodial worker Lenny Moss, union steward -- and, it evolves, detective. [22-07-2007] Literature
• Every Employee's Guide to the Law by Lewin G. Joel III - Thorough and very understandable, this book goes into solid, useful detail about the federal and state laws that, together with union contracts, are designed to assure fairness and justice in the workplace. [21-07-2007] Law
• High Steel: The Men Who Built the World’s Greatest Skyline by Jim Rasenberger - This is a thoroughly enjoyable book about structural ironworkers – the union men who build our skylines. It is a fast-paced, bare-knuckled portrait of vivid personalities, containing episodes of startling violence (as when ironworkers dynamited the Los Angeles Times building in 1910) and exhilarating adventure. [20-07-2007] Labour history - USA
• Union-Free: Creating a Committed and Productive Workforce by Paul Mooney - "The traditional methods of industrial relations have become outdated and ineffective," argues the author of this book aimed at managers. "He provides useful advice on how to deal with a union recognition drive, but more importantly he shows how innovative employment policies can create a committed workforce that does not feel the need for the protection of a union. The book concludes with extremely useful appendices including a non-union assessment tool, examples of how to explain a non-union philosophy to employees, and non-union training materials for managers." Buy this book -- and know your enemy. [19-07-2007] Union-busting
• The 9 to 5 Guide to Combatting Sexual Harassment by Ellen Bravo and Ellen Cassedy - Sexual harassment is a serious problem in the workplace, and this book gives solid advice about how to combat it. From defining what sexual harassment is -- and isn’t -- to what victims and their unions should do about it, this is an invaluable tool that should be in every victim’s hands and in every local union’s library. [18-07-2007] Current events
• Downsize This! by Michael Moore - With the same biting humor and insight he brought to his groundbreaking movie 'Roger and Me' and television show, 'T.V. Nation,' Michael Moore uses his off-beat investigative and reporting styles to explore the downsizing of the United States and the business and political reasons behind it. [17-07-2007] Current events
• From Blackjacks to Briefcases by Robert Michael Smith - This is the first book to document the systematic and extensive use by American corporations of professional unionbusters, an ugly profession that surfaced after the Civil War and has grown bolder and more sophisticated with the passage of time. [16-07-2007] Union-busting
• How to Prepare and Present a Labor Arbitration Case by Charles S. Loughran - Strategy and tactics for advocates, a practical guide to every step, this is an essential guide to achieving winning results in arbitration. Developed by a widely respected former labor attorney and employee relations executive, this book offers the most effective techniques you can use to determine what needs to be proven, assemble the evidence, select the arbitrator, present the case, deal with objections, handle adverse witnesses and draft post-hearing briefs. [15-07-2007] Organizing
• Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 by Lizabeth Cohen - This book examines how it was possible and what it meant for ordinary factory workers to become effective unionists and national political participants by the mid-1930s. [14-07-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Side of the Angels by Christin Bartolomeo - Recommended by Art Shostak, the author of CyberUnions, who calls this "a revealing novel about many problems unions must address". [13-07-2007] Literature
• Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor by Steven Fraser - Publishers Weekly wrote: "Onetime radical revolutionary from a Lithuanian village, Sidney Hillman (1887-1946) eked out a living as a cutter in Chicago's garment trade, then rose to become an influential labor leader and a member of FDR's inner circle. Due to his efforts, the Democratic Party of the mid-1930s came close to becoming the recognized party of organized labor. The nation's first political action committee, the CIO-PAC, which Hillman created, pioneered demands in 1944 for racial equality, women's right to work, equal pay and federally subsidized child care. Yet, in his close association with New Deal politicians, Hillman saw his moral authority erode among comrades as the labor bureaucracy he helped erect became increasingly ossified. Foster, executive editor of Basic Books, explores these contradictions in a superb, vibrant biography that mirrors American labor's 'sea change' from insurgent proletariat to a force integrated into capitalist mass culture." [12-07-2007] Labour history - USA
• Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What They Do by Studs Terkel - "I cannot find words to express sufficiently my admiration for Studs Terkel's Working. This is a powerful, original, indescribable, and incredible book. Over a hundred identifiable people have created it by word of mouth, and only an interviewer of genius, exploiting the tape recorder as hardly anyone else has done, could possibly have brought it forth....One cannot put down this book without wanting to take a long hard look at one's own life and daily work." - Lewis Mumford [11-07-2007] Current events
• Japanese Workers in Protest by Christena L. Turner - This first ethnographic study of factory workers engaged in radical labor protest gives a voice to a previously marginalized segment of the Japanese population. These workers tell their own stories of lengthy struggles to make sense of their lives and culture during times of conflict and instability. What emerges is a sensitive portrait of how workers grapple with a slowed economy and the crises facing Japanese industry in the late twentieth century. [10-07-2007] Japan
• Rebuilding Labor: Organizing and Organizers in the New Union Movement by Ruth Milkman (editor) - An ILR Press book, published August 2004. 309 pp. [09-07-2007] Labour history - USA
• At Work: The Art of California Labor by Mark Dean Johnson - Johnson surveys California artwork produced over the past century related to the California labor movement. Social and artistic issues are discussed and linked, and the range of styles and works examined is diverse. Paintings, photographs, and murals are reproduced in 111 plates. [08-07-2007] Labour history - USA
• Slamming Spam: A Guide for System Administrators by Robert Haskins - Published December 2004. Could be useful for the people running email systems for large trade unions. [07-07-2007] Information technology
• Canning Spam: You've Got Mail (That You Don't Want) by Jeremy Poteet - The publisher writes: "The book contains stories about spam, viruses, and hackers that make for entertaining and informative reading. Each chapter includes practical advice for administrators setting policy and installing filters to block spam, as well as tips for users to help them avoid becoming part of the problem." [06-07-2007] Information technology
• Blocking Spam and Spyware for Dummies by Peter H. Gregory - Practical solutions for IS professionals, according to the publisher. Just published, April 2005. [05-07-2007] Information technology
• Ending Spam by Jonathan A. Zdziarski - Just published July 2005. According to the publisher, "This landmark title describes, in-depth, how statistical filtering is being used by next generation spam filters to identify and filter spam. The author explains how spam filtering works and how language classification and machine learning combine to produce remarkably accurate spam filters. Readers gain a complete understanding of the mathematical approaches used in today's spam filters, decoding, tokenization, the use of various algorithms (including Bayesian analysis and Markovian discrimination), and the benefits of using open-source solutions to end spam. Interviews with the creators of many of the best spam filters provide further insight into the anti-spam crusade." [04-07-2007] Information technology
• Spam Wars: Our Last Best Chance to Defeat Spammers, Scammers and Hackers by Danny Goodman - Hate spam? Who doesn't? I just finished reading this book myself and even after fighting spam for nearly a decade, found out that there are still things I didn't know. This is the definitive volume on the subject and if you suffer from unsolicited bulk email, you need this book. [03-07-2007] Information technology
• Labor Pains: Inside America’s New Union Movement by Suzan Erem - If you’re a union organizer, or interested in getting a sense of what that kind of life is like, you’ll want to read this sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes heartening, sometimes troubling book about a Chicago organizer’s life, both on the job and off. [02-07-2007] Organizing
• Making the News: A Guide for Nonprofits and Activists by Jason Salzman - Tired of the union being ignored by your local media? Fed up with the way your employer’s side of the story always gets told...while the union side gets barely a passing mention, usually negative? You’ll want this book. [01-07-2007] Organizing
• Contract Bargaining Handbook for Local Union Leaders by Maurice B. Better - This nuts-and-bolts handbook gives union negotiators specific instructions on bargaining for pay, fringes and other terms and conditions of employment. Summaries and checklists guide you through the process as you learn to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the employer, find your best strike and no-strike alternatives, avoid impasse, use third-party mediation and more. [30-06-2007] Organizing
• Democracy Is Power by Mike Parker and Martha Gruelle - This hard-hitting how-to book was written for rank-and-file activists and local officers who believe unions would perform better if the members were truly involved in making the big decisions. [29-06-2007] Organizing
• Just Cause: The Seven Tests, 2nd edition by Adolph M. Koven and Susan L. Smith - Actual and hypothetical examples used in this valuable book reveal how arbitrators interpret and decide workplace disputes. Using criteria developed by master arbitrator Carroll R. Daugherty, the authors thoroughly examine the reasoning behind arbitration awards in discipline and discharge cases. [28-06-2007] Organizing
• The Union Member’s Complete Guide by Michael Mauer - An easy-to-read, thorough explanation of what unions are, how they work, and the rights and responsibilities of membership. Countless workers today became union members only because they took jobs in previously organized workplaces and have little understanding of how unions work. [27-06-2007] Organizing
• Unwelcome and Unlawful by Raymond F. Gregory - Nearly every American woman will, at some point during her working life, be sexually harassed, according to Raymond F. Gregory, a lawyer specializing in employment and discrimination law. Unwelcome and Unlawful, published in 2004 provides up-to-date information for those victims as well as for those suffering same-sex harassment and for male victims of sexual harassment. Gregory analyzes sexual harassment from the perspective of existing federal law and describes the legal rights that may be asserted by victims of harassment to obtain either injunctive or monetary relief. [26-06-2007] Current events
• How Arbitration Works, 6th edition by Frank Elkouri and Edna Asper Elkouri - Labor law and dispute resolution professionals have long considered this the standard text on labor arbitration. Kept up-to-date by specialists from the American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law’s Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Labor and Employment Law, this definitive resource continues to benefit arbitrators, advocates, and scholars. [25-06-2007] Organizing
• Some Cuts Never Heal by Timothy Sheard - Amateur detective Lenny Moss, custodian and union steward for the workers of James Madision University Hospital, has his finger on the pulse of the hardworking men and women who keep the great medical institution running. Madison’s executives, however, have their eyes fixed on finances. [24-06-2007] Literature
• Field Guide to the Global Economy, 2nd edition by Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh and Thea Lee - This fully updated (2005) and expanded second edition is a wonderful, easy-to-follow guide for anyone who wants to make sense of the rapidly changing international economy and its impact on jobs and workers’ standard of living. [23-06-2007] Current events
• Grievance Guide, 11th edition by Bureau of National Affairs - Unions can plan their cases with added perspective with the help of this book, which presents and discusses the rulings of arbitrators in typical cases. This easy-to-use handbook documents patterns in a wide range of commonly grieved areas including discharge and discipline, leaves of absence, promotions, strikes and lockouts, and more. [22-06-2007] Organizing
• The Activist Cookbook: Creative Actions for a Fair Economy by United for a Fair Economy - This is a hands-on manual for labor and other activists who want to find new ways to spice up their messages. It contains more than 100 pages of great ideas and examples of creative actions to get your point across at conferences, campaigns, media events and more -- even your own union meetings. It’s an A-to-Z guide that will teach you how to make the public see your employer for the greedy jerk he may be, for example, or help community residents understand that their local government is acting as little more than a wholly-owned subsidiary of the big industry in town. [21-06-2007] Organizing
• The Naked Employee by Frederick S. Lane III - This is an important book for any worker or union activist who has reason to be concerned about workplace privacy issues, ranging from the monitoring of telephones and computers to the trend toward the required wearing of electronic badges that trace your every movement -- even to the point of monitoring how long you’re in the bathroom or washing your hands. [20-06-2007] Current events
• Collective Bargaining for Health and Safety by Labor Occupational Health Program, University of California at Berkeley - A tremendous resource for unions facing health and safety issues. Includes tools to help unions prepare for bargaining: planning strategies, gathering information, evaluating the existing contract, and setting priorities. [19-06-2007] Health and safety
• I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt - According to the publisher, "Corroboration that emerged following publication of the hardcover edition of this fascinating account of a dark side of American history confirms that Charles Brandt has finally solved one of the greatest and most enduring mysteries of our time, the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, and created a real-page turner that is sure to become a true-crime classic." [18-06-2007] Labour history - USA
• Labor Days: An Anthology of Fiction about Work by David Gates - In this superb and subversive collection, the finest fiction writers capture the full experience of showing up, clocking in, and working it. Whether you slave in a cubicle or put your feet up in a corner office, it is the perfect antidote for the grind and the glances at the clock, where the second hand sweeps slowly toward quitting time. [17-06-2007] Literature
• Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on the Global Factory by Miriam Ching Yoon Louie - Summarizing the histories of Chinese, Mexican, and Korean immigration, Sweatshop Warriors examines the practices and policies that propel women, men, and children into dangerous and poorly paid jobs. [16-06-2007] Current events
• Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty by Randy Pearl Albelda - Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits demonstrates that, while the female corporate executive and the welfare mother may seem to be a world apart, they have much in common -- job discrimination, lower pay than men, and primary responsibility for the unpaid work of making sure their children are cared for. Randy Albelda and Chris Tilly provide a cogent analysis of the economic and social realities for women in the United States, across class lines. In an age when the right wing manipulates the dialogue around women's issues to separate middle- and upper-class women from their poorer sisters, this book's facts, figures, and analysis provide a much-needed antidote. In clear language, with plenty of supporting data, the authors of this important book explain how the rapid changes in the U.S. economy and culture over the past half-century have increased pressures on families and have left single mothers in the dust. They examine the impact of public policies on families and the shortcomings of current welfare reform initiatives, including the 1996 welfare law. However, they don't stop there. Breaking through the artificial boundaries that have constrained the welfare debate, Albelda and Tilly lay out concrete proposals for transforming not just welfare, but a broad range of public policies to provide real support for families and secure women's economic equality. [15-06-2007] Current events
• The Union Steward's Complete Guide by David Prosten - The first edition of this book, published in 1997, quickly became the workplace bible for tens of thousands of stewards across North America. Some 45,000 copies later comes this new and expanded second edition. Fully illustrated and indexed, its eleven chapters offer hands-on counsel on problems and concerns ranging from the basics of grievance handling to dealing with difficult supervisors or co-workers to ways of increasing membership involvement in the union. New material includes counsel on workplace concerns ranging from computer and privacy issues to a new chapter dealing with the changing workplace, including the growing number of workers from other nations and cultures. The chapter on Handling Common Grievances and Disciplines has been greatly expanded and is sure to be of help to overworked stewards, and the revised format of the book itself will make for even easier reading. The Guide is designed for new stewards and veterans alike. Like the first edition, it is based on the popular Steward Update newsletter, read regularly by more than 80,000 stewards across North America. The original edition won praise from leading labor educators and in publications ranging from the AFL-CIO’s America@Work magazine ("provides lively details on the range of stewards’ duties") to SEIU Action ("thorough and very readable"), to the Milwaukee Labor Press ("the ultimate handbook...it contains everything you need to know about being on the union’s front line") and the Detroit Labor News ("an outstanding resource for new and veteran union activists"). Contributors include Pat Thomas, George Hagglund, Jim Young and Bill Barry. [14-06-2007] Organizing
• Winning Arbitration Advocacy by Marvin F. Hill, Jr., Anthony V. Sinicropi and Amy L. Evenson - Have every advantage in arbitration with this thorough guide to each vital prehearing, hearing, and posthearing issue. The authors answer questions on: factors in choosing an arbitrator; the basis for a stay of arbitration; volatile aspects of using witnesses and evidence; a list of "major mistakes" made by arbitration advocates; strategies for opening statements and briefs, and much more. You get full discussion of the important substantive areas most advocates encounter in arbitration, including drug and alcohol cases, employment discrimination disputes, and off-duty misconduct grievances. Includes helpful checklists, a glossary, and other practical guidance. [13-06-2007] Organizing
• Great Labor Quotations: Sourcebook and Reader by Peter Bollen - A wonderful collection of quotations on work, labor and unionism, drawn almost entirely from the American labor movement. If you ever have to give a speech, write a paper, or just plain get inspiration, this book is for you. More than 1,300 quotations are divided into 17 chapters, interspersed with cartoons, photos and brief biographies of labor greats. Includes quotes from some notorious bosses, too ("I can hire one-half the working class to kill the other half," said railroad owner Jay Gould on not worrying about a strike in 1886). Nicely indexed so you can find just what you're looking for. "Not only is this a terrific treasury of gems, but it's just plain fun to read," says Jim Hightower. [12-06-2007] Education
• Parliamentary Procedure and Effective Meetings by Gene Daniels and Larry Casey - This is a very helpful guide for how to run or participate in a union meeting –- not just the formal procedures, but the realities, like how to set an agenda, how to deal with people who just love to hear themselves speak and how to boost attendance, for example. [11-06-2007] Organizing
• The Killing of Karen Silkwood by Richard Rashke - This is a new (2004), updated edition of the groundbreaking book about the death of union activist Karen Silkwood, an employee of a plutonium processing plant, who was killed in a mysterious car crash on her way to deliver important documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. Silkwood’s death at age 28 was highly suspicious: she had been working on health and safety issues at the plant, and a lot of people stood to benefit by her death. [10-06-2007] Health and safety
• The Labor Awareness Program by The Institute for Labor Studies of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Longview Community College - This excellent 15-lesson interactive curriculum aims to prepare students and young workers for the transition to the world of work by learning the history of labor and the evolution of the modern workplace. They learn what unions do, and they learn the skills to protect and defend themselves as workers. [09-06-2007] Education
• Teaching for Change: Popular Education and the Labor Movement by Linda Delp, Miranda Outman-Kramer, Susan J. Schurman, Kent Wong - How do we bring labor’s message to the broader community? How do we get workers -- even workers already represented by unions -- to understand and learn to confront the issues and forces that affect their lives? How do we successfully organize the unorganized, develop new leaders, and strengthen labor and community alliances? [08-06-2007] Education
• Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations, 4th edition by E. Edward Herman - This is a well executed and readable text used extensively in undergraduate and graduate-level programs that will be helpful to even the most experienced union leaders while providing interested activists with a serious and broad-based understanding of collective bargaining and labor-management relations. It would be difficult to find a more thorough examination and explanation of the complex subject matter that is the labor-management dance. [07-06-2007] Education
• Tailgate Training for California Construction Workers by UC/Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program - Despite the “California” in the title, this is a valuable health and safety tool for building trades leaders and activists across North America. Developed by the University of California at Berkeley’s Labor Occupational Health Program, in cooperation with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, this 200-page, 14-chapter guidebook can help foremen, union reps and other trainers conduct effective training and help cut into the terrible injury and death rate found throughout the trades. [06-06-2007] Education
• Building More Effective Unions by Paul F. Clark - Building strong unions in today’s economic, political and social environment is a difficult task, and growing more difficult with each passing day. One potentially useful, but largely overlooked, resource available to the labor movement is behavioral science. In this scholarly but quite readable book, Paul Clark makes the findings of behavioral science accessible to those committed to building a stronger labor movement. [05-06-2007] Education
• Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web - 2nd Edition by Elizabeth Castro - A great introduction to the Perl scripting language. Essential reading for trade union webmasters. [04-06-2007] Information Technology
• Normal Accidents : Living With High-risk Technologies by Charles Perrow - The publisher writes: "This text analyzes the social side of technological risk. It argues that the conventional engineering approach to ensuring safety fails because systems complexity makes failures inevitable. It provides a framework for analyzing risks and the organizations that insist that they are run." [03-06-2007] Health and safety
• Poor Workers' Unions: Rebuilding Labor from Below by Vanessa Tait - The publisher writes: "Highly praised by labor activists and educators for its radical reconsideration of both labor’s sidelined history and its future directions, Poor Workers' Unions will challenge readers' understanding of who and what constitutes labor and union activism." [02-06-2007] Current events
• Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care by Suzanne Gordon - "The shocking real-life stories Gordon describes in Nursing against the Odds echo what our members experience every day . . . This book is a must-read for anyone involved in the health care industry." - Andrew Stern, SEIU International President [01-06-2007] Current events
• Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America by Steven J. Ross - "Steve Ross has written an absorbing and important book about a time when working-class life and working-class filmmakers occupied a central place in American cinema. I strongly recommend that anyone interested in the politics of American film read this book." - Michael Moore [31-05-2007] Film
• Thinking in Pictures: The Making of Matewan by John Sayles - Matewan is one of the very best labour films ever made. Written by its director, this is, according to the publisher, "an illuminating book about the complex choices that lie at the heart of every movie. Using the making of his film Matewan as an example, he offers chapters on screenwriting, directing, editing, sound, and more. Photographs, sketches, and the complete shooting script illustrate this engaging account of how Sayles's curiosity about a coal miners' strike in the town of Matewan, West Virginia, became a screenplay — and then a movie." [30-05-2007] Film
• Radicalism in American Silent Films, 1909-1929: A Filmography and History by Michael Slade Shull - According to the publisher, "There were 435 American silent motion pictures released between 1909 and 1929 that engaged the issues of militant labor and radicalism. This book first examines how the American motion picture industry portrayed radicals, capitalists and Bolsheviks during the period." [29-05-2007] Film
• Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety - 4th edition by Jeanne Mag Stellman - Published by the ILO, this book costs $300. Used. We'd be delighted if someone would buy it. :) [28-05-2007] Health and safety
• One-eyed Science : Occupational Health and Women Workers by Karen Messing - The publisher writes: "After decades of research by the author and her colleagues into what women do in positions such as bank teller, secretary, waitress, nurse, factory worker, and poultry processor, Karen Messing is astonished to find that for many policymakers, researchers, and activists, the topic of women's occupational health doesn't exist. Responding to the tough question, why are scientists so unresponsive to the needs of women workers, Messing describes long-standing difficulties in gaining attention for the occupational health of women, ranging from the structure of the grant process and the conferences crucial to the professional life of researchers to the basic assumptions of scientific practice. Messing laments the separation of even most feminist health researchers from workplace concerns and asserts that it is time to develop a science that can prevent women workers' pain and suffering." [27-05-2007] Health and safety
• Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor by Robert E. Weir and James P. Hanlan - This new (2004), two-volume history of the American labor movement is a tremendous resource, covering the history of organized labor in all of its complexity, from the dawn of the industrial revolution to the "post-industrial age." [26-05-2007] Labour history - USA
• Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits by Grace Palladino - Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits follows the history of the Building and Construction Trades Department from the emergence of building trades councils in the age of the skyscraper; through treacherous fights over jurisdiction as new building materials and methods of work evolved; and through numerous Department campaigns to improve safety standards, work with contractors to promote unionized construction, and forge a sense of industrial unity among its fifteen (and at times nineteen) autonomous and highly diverse affiliates. [25-05-2007] Labour history - USA
• The State of Working America, 2004/2006 by Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, Sylvia Allegretto - This is the most recent (published 2005) biennial look at what’s happening to the living standards of working men and women in the American economy, as analyzed and reported by the staff of the Economic Policy Institute. [24-05-2007] Current events
• Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell, Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury - The hard-working duck spends every waking minute taking care of the farm and the house, while the lazy farmer lounges in bed and eats bonbons. The duck cuts the hay, gathers the eggs, cuts the wood, weeds the garden, cleans the house, does the dishes... while the farmer occasionally musters up enough energy to call out a helpful: "How goes the work?" [23-05-2007] Children
• Organizing for Social Change by Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall and Steve Max - Now in its third edition, this is an organizer’s bible: a comprehensive, real-world tool for organizers of all stripes determined to create attention and affect change. Compiled by leaders of the Midwest Academy, a respected training ground for serious union, community and nonprofit organizers since 1973, the book deals with everything from tactics to the mechanics of how to track a campaign, from coalition-building to using the media to supervising less experienced organizers. [22-05-2007] Organizing
• Steward Training CD: Introductory Steward Training Course by UCS - Based largely on the best-selling Union Steward’s Complete Guide, "The UCS Introductory Steward Training Course" offers everything a new steward needs to get up and running. Invaluable as a brush-up and refresher to more veteran stewards as well, the CD comes complete with audio, a series of Skills Checks and Scenarios to help you master the material, even a Certificate of Completion when you finish. One CD, plus bonus book. [21-05-2007] Education
• Contract Campaign Manual by Education Department, Service Employees Intl. Union - A new (2005), absolutely must-have resource for unionists staring in the face of a fight for a first contract or the renewal of an existing agreement. Developed by the Service Employees International Union for its own leaders, its practical advice and sound methods will work in virtually any union’s contract campaign. 314 pages 3-ring binder. [20-05-2007] Organizing
• A Troublemakers Handbook 2 by Jane Slaughter - This workplace-strategies manual covers all the how-to's, from agitating for better conditions to walking out. Shop floor actions, organizing new members, winning good contracts, fighting outsourcing, creating a website, dealing with the media, building community alliances, running for office -- and running the local once you win -- international solidarity, bargaining tips, corporate campaigns, researching employers -- all these activities, and more. This is, indeed, a handbook for 'troublemakers' -- workers and union leaders who fight for their rights on the job. [19-05-2007] Organizing
• Trespass Against Us: Dow Chemical and The Toxic Century by Jack Doyle - The publisher writes: "From its 'accident' at Bhopal by its Union Carbide company to Agent Orange, from Napalm to Plutonium, Dow Chemical has been at the center of many of the worst chemical disasters in history. In this explosive expose of the chemical giant, Jack Doyle reviews the legacy and the future of this gigantic chemical octopus." [18-05-2007] Health and safety
• Fatal Deception : the Terrifying True Story of How Asbestos Is Killing America by Michael Bowker - The publisher writes: " Most Americans mistakenly believe asbestos was banned long ago. In fact, it is still legal and can still kill you. Its microscopic fibers cause painful and incurable diseases. Despite being outlawed in nearly every other industrialized country, asbestos remains a legal component of more than three thousand common products in the United States. These include toasters, washers/dryers, ovens, building supplies, and automobile brakes. Our confusion about asbestos is no accident. Fatal Deception is a chilling exposé of the asbestos industry's successful seventy-year campaign to hide the deadly effects of its products from the American people. The stakes are high -- tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. Michael Bowker rips the cover off the decades of deceit, including the treachery in Libby, Montana, site of the most deadly environmental disaster in U.S. history. He also unveils a startling and ongoing cover-up at Ground Zero -- where thousands of New Yorkers may still be suffering from exposure to dangerous levels of asbestos fibers. Compelling, enraging, and very timely, Fatal Deception is not just a fascinating story, it is a plea to the government and to the American people to help sponsor research into asbestos-related diseases -- and a call to arms to ban asbestos now." [17-05-2007] Health and safety
• Accident Prevention: A Worker's Education Manual by International Labor Organization - The publisher writes: "Workers are becoming more and more aware of the role that they, and the management, can play in reducing the number of occupational accidents. The 14 chapters in the manual are full of examples and practical advice and lend themselves both to group work and to individual study. They cover the basic principles of accident prevention, the causes and effects of accidents, and the reporting of accidents and keeping of records for statistical purposes. The role of the trade union is shown to be particularly important, for example in the setting up of safety committees and in training workers." [16-05-2007] Health and safety
• A Job to Die for: Why So Many Americans Are Killed, Injured or Made Ill at Work and What to Do about It by Lisa Cullen - The publisher writes: "While headlines scream about consumer safety, as they did over the tire recall following the deaths of some 123 drivers in car accidents, Lisa Cullen reveals scant attention is paid to a far bigger problem. In gripping narratives bristling with horrifying statistics, Cullen reveals: 165 Americans die from occupational disease while 18 more die from work related injuries -- every day!" [15-05-2007] Health and safety
• The Travels of A T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade by Pietra Rivoli - According to Publisher's Weekly, "During a 1999 protest of the World Trade Organization, Rivoli, an economics professor at Georgetown, looked on as an activist seized the microphone and demanded, 'Who made your T-shirt?' Rivoli determined to find out. She interviewed cotton farmers in Texas, factory workers in China, labor champions in the American South and used-clothing vendors in Tanzania." [14-05-2007] Current events
• Hard Work: Life in Low-pay Britain by Polly Toynbee - LabourStart reader Keith Rhodes recommends this book, writing: "Well written and scary. It enough to make those of us who think we are hard done by to say, "there but for the grace of ..." [13-05-2007] Current events
• Blue Collar Jesus: How Christianity Supports Workers' Rights by Darren Cushman Wood - "An Indianapolis minister who is an adjunct professor of labor studies concludes in a newly published book that labor unions are legitimate instruments of God's will for creating a just society." So begins the press release announcing this title, which we received. Intriguing, no? [12-05-2007] Current events
• Canadian Labour in Politics by Gad Horowitz - As American workers grapple with declining union membership and reduced strength in national politics, it might be worth their while to have a look across the border at a labour movement which chose not to support one of the main capitalist parties but to launch a party of their own. This book is hardcover, used, and costs $15.50. [11-05-2007] Labour history - Canada
• The Winnipeg General Strike by J. E. Rea - Another account of this great strike. Only $5.95, used. See also yesterday's choice. [10-05-2007] Labour history - Canada
• The Winnipeg General Strike by Donald C Masters - One of the classic accounts of one of the great labour battles faught in post-World War I North America. Used hardcover. [09-05-2007] Labour history - Canada
• Trials of Jimmy Hoffa: an Autobiography by James R. Hoffa - The autobiography of one of the most controversial union leaders America ever produced. Only $5.00 as a used hardback. [08-05-2007] Labour history - USA
• Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor by Paul Buhle - According to the synopsis on Powells.com, "In this labor history of the American Federation of Labor and, later, the AFL-CIO, a historian contends that the organization has been too friendly with big business--to the detriment of the workers--and that the large unions have become self-perpetuating bureaucracies that stifle dissent from within." [07-05-2007] Labour history - USA
• Education for Changing Unions by Bev Burke - Recommended by LabourStart reader Tony Brown. [06-05-2007] Education
• A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn - Highly recommended by LabourStart readers, a new edition is out now. [05-05-2007] Labour history - USA
• Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul D Alinsky - A classic book about organizing. Essential reading and only $12.00. [04-05-2007] Organizing
• Robust Unionism: Innovations in the Labor Movement by Arthur B. Shostak - Yesterday we suggested you buy Shostak's classic CyberUnion. This is the book he wrote in the late 1990s just before CyberUnion. According to the publisher, the author "argues that labor has the potential to become a politically powerful and socially dynamic agent for change in the 1990s. Interwining case studies, anecdotes, he focuses first on workplace issues such as safety and health, and moves on to examine creative ways in which unions are encouraging membership growth, strengthening their community base, and enhancing their public relations." [03-05-2007] Current events
• CyberUnion: Empowering Labor Through Computer Technology by Arthur B. Shostak - The 1999 classic -- the first book published in the USA laying out the case for unions to transform themselves using information and communications technology. Essential reading. [02-05-2007] Unions and the net
• The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - It's May Day. This edition costs only $5.24. If you don't own a copy, buy this today -- and have a happy holiday! [01-05-2007] Karl Marx
• Imagining Internationalism in American and British Labor, 1939-49 by Victor Silverman - This book is part of the "Working Class in American History" series published by University of Illinois Press. [30-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• Labor's Flaming Youth: Telephone Operators and Worker Militancy, 1878-1923 by Stephen H Norwood - This book is part of the "Working Class in American History" series published by University of Illinois Press. [29-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• Labor Embattled: History, Power, Rights by David Brody - According to the publisher: "American unions are weaker now than at any times in the past hundred years, with fewer than one in ten private-sector workers currently organized. In Labor embattled, David Brody says this is a problem not only for the unions but also a disaster for American democracy and social justice. In a series of historically informed chapters, Brody explores recent developments affecting American workers in light of labor's past ... His lucid and passionate essays combine legal and labor history to reveal how laws designed to undergird workers' rights now essentially hamstring them." This book is part of the "Working Class in American History" series published by University of Illinois Press. [28-04-2007] Current events
• Labor's Story in the United States by Philip Yale Nicholson - A comprehensive, readable history of work in America. "We have long needed a lively and intelligent history of the labor movement in the United States, and Philip Yale Nicholson gives us just that. He provides a rich historical context, and a refreshing class consciousness. I believe this book will be invaluable in educating a new generation about a much neglected and crucial part of the nation's history," writes Howard Zinn. Part of the "Labor in Crisis" series of books published by Temple University Press. (The series is edited by Stanley Aronowitz.) [27-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Triangle Fire, the Protocols of Peace, and Industrial Democracy in Progressive Era New York by Richard A. Greenwald - A book that uncovers the birth of industrial democracy. "[This book] is packed with interesting historical facts, based on the author's examination of an impressive volume of primary and secondary resources," writes Jonathan Cutler. Published in July 2005; you can pre-order now. Part of the "Labor in Crisis" series of books published by Temple University Press. (The series is edited by Stanley Aronowitz.) [26-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• Labor's Time: Shorter Hours, the UAW, and the Struggle for American Unionism by Jonathan Cutler - According to a review in the IWW's Industrial Worker, "This is a very readable, engaging account of a critical moment in labor history." Part of the "Labor in Crisis" series of books published by Temple University Press. (The series is edited by Stanley Aronowitz.) [25-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• Out of the Jungle: Jimmy Hoffa and the Remaking of the American Working Class by Thaddeus Russell - LabourStart reader Boyd McCamish writes: "Great account of the rise of Jimmy Hoffa and many of the unintended consequences of his legacy." Part of the "Labor in Crisis" series. [24-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Union Makes Us Strong: Radical Unionism on the San Francisco Waterfront by David Wellman - LabourStart reader Boyd McCamish writes: "A fantastic journey through ILWU Local 8,(the folks who organized Powells), its history and today. A really insighful and well written book which deserves peoples attention." An expensive hardcover, but available used at less than half price. [23-04-2007] Current events
• Lula and the Workers Party in Brazil by Sue Branford and Bernardo Kucinski - The publisher writes: "In October 2002, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva made history when he became Latin America's first democratically elected socialist leader since Salvador Allende. Lula and his Workers' Party won comfortably with nearly 62 percent of Brazil's popular vote. This book examines the Workers' Party's origins and electoral history, outlining the key politicians behind it and the riveting story of their four successive tries for power. It charts Lula's extraordinary life story, his rise from poverty, decades of struggle in the country's union movement, and his increasing political influence and eventual victory." Pre-order this important title, due for publication in June 2005. [22-04-2007] Brazil
• Break Their Haughty Power: Joe Murphy in the Heyday of the Wobblies by Eugene Nelson - We know, we know. Five books about the Wobblies in a row? But today's selection sounds special. Here's the description: "Joe Murphy, chased out of his Missouri home town by anti-Catholic bigots, hopped aboard a freight train and headed west for the wheat harvest. Within weeks, the 13-year-old Joe became a labor activist and organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or 'Wobblies'). Eugene Nelson, a long-time friend of Joe Murphy, recounts many labor and free-speech struggles through the eyes of 'Kid Murphy'. The Wobblies were a dynamic mass movement in the 1920s, and this biographical novel relates Murphy's adventures in the wheat fields, lumber camps, and on the high seas. Historical events include the 1919 Centralia massacre in Washington State; the Colorado coal miners' strike of 1927; and the 1931 strike by workers building Boulder Dam. Nelson also relates the young Murphy's reflections on meeting Helen Keller, Eugene Debs, and Bill Haywood." To see the previous four books on the Wobblies which we recommended this week, click here. [21-04-2007] IWW
• The Centralia Tragedy of 1919: Elmer Smith and the Wobblies by Tom Copeland - I read this book myself a few months ago and was deeply touched by the story of the Centralia, Washington events of 1919 following which a number of IWW activists were unjustly imprisoned. It's primarily the story of their heroic lawyer, Elmer Smith, who never gave up on them. If it seems like we're running a lot of books about the Wobblies these days, don't forget that it's their 100th anniversary -- and with May Day only a few days away, these do make perfect gifts. [20-04-2007] IWW
• The Wobblies: The Story of the IWW and Syndicalism in the United States by Patrick Renshaw - Yesterday, we suggested you buy a picture book about the Wobblies. Today, we're recommending the real thing. According to the synopsis on Powells.com, "The story of how the Wobblies, the Industrial Workers of the World, planned to combine the American working class, and eventually wage earners all over the world, into one big labor union with an industrial basis." [19-04-2007] IWW
• Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World by Paul Buhle and Nicole M. Schulman - The publisher writes: "A vibrant history in graphic art of the Wobblies. published for the centenary of the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World and promoted by a major US tour." This book is the best-selling title in Labour's Online Bookstore and is a perfect May Day gift for your comrades. Buy 2 copies, and the shipping is FREE. [18-04-2007] IWW
• Oil, Wheat, and Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World in Oklahoma, 1905-1930 by Nigel Antho Sellars - The publisher write: "describes IWW efforts to organize migratory harvest hands and oil-field workers in the state and relationships between the union and other radical and labor groups such as the Socialist Party and the American Federation of Labor." [17-04-2007] IWW
• Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Promise by Nelson Lichtenstein (editor) - Our fourth selection this week by the same author (for the others, click here). A collection of essays covering "the theory and practice of the American labor movement, the promise and demise of industrial jurisprudence, the law of collective bargaining, workplace contractualism, and shop-floor reality in the United States auto industry, and compare these with employment systems in Japan." [16-04-2007] Current events
• The most dangerous man in Detroit : Walter Reuther and the fate of American labor by Nelson Lichtenstein - The publisher's synopsis: "This book recounts Walter Reuther's remarkable ascent in the United Automobile Workers Union. He began as a skilled worker at Henry Ford's great River Rouge complex and then worked a two-year odyssey in the Soviet Union's infant auto industry in the early 1930s which gave rise to his CIO position. Under Reuther the auto workers standard of living soared. But as the biography reveals, he became increasingly frustrated, imprisoned within a stolid union structure he himself had done much to forge. In the end, he could do little to stop the deindustrialization of Detroit or the stagnation of the labor movement." From the author of State of the Union: A Century of American Labor, our selection from two days ago. [15-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• Labor's War at Home: The CIO in World War II by Nelson Lichtenstein - From the author of State of the Union: A Century of American Labor, our selection from yesterday. [14-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• State of the Union: A Century of American Labor by Nelson Lichtenstein - The publisher writes: "In a fresh and timely reinterpretation, Nelson Lichtenstein examines how trade unionism has waxed and waned in the nation's political and moral imagination, among both devoted partisans and intransigent foes. From the steel foundry to the burger-grill, from Woodrow Wilson to John Sweeney, from Homestead to Pittston, Lichtenstein weaves together a compelling matrix of ideas, stories, strikes, laws, and people in a streamlined narrative of work and labor in the twentieth century." [13-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• A Working Stiff's Manifesto: Confessions of a Wage Slave by Iain Levison - The publisher calls this "a funny book about the not-so-funny American workplace". Available used for as little as $8.50. [12-04-2007] Current events
• Mother Jones : the Most Dangerous Woman in America by Elliot Gorn - The first biography of Mother Jones, written by the author of "author of The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America". Hmmmm. [11-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Battle of Blair Mountain: The Story of America's Largest Labor Uprising by Robert Shogan - "This book is a riveting refutation of the comforting conventional wisdom that there has never been class struggle in America," wrote David Kusnet, chief speechwriter for former president Bill Clinton. [10-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart by Liza Featherstone - The publisher writes: "In this groundbreaking expose, Featherstone looks at how Wal-Mart, America's largest employer, systematically deprives its female workers of promotions, pay, and job assignments, and then shows how those women are about to change history." [09-04-2007] Wal-Mart
• How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America (and the World) and What You Can Do about It by Bill Quinn - The title says it all, no? Buy this book used for as little as $7.50. [08-04-2007] Wal-Mart
• Reorganizing the Rust Belt by Steven Henry Lopez - The publisher writes: "This gripping insider's look at the contemporary American trade union movement shows that reports of organized labor's death are premature. In this eloquent and erudite narrative, Steven Henry Lopez demonstrates how, despite a hostile legal environment and the punitive anti-unionism of U.S. employers, a few unions have organized hundreds of thousands of low-wage service workers in the past few years. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been at the forefront of this effort, in the process pioneering innovative strategies of grassroots mobilization and protest." [07-04-2007] Current events
• The Blue Eagle at Work by Charles J. Morris - Subtitled "Reclaiming Democratic Rights in the American Workplace". Published January 2005. [06-04-2007] Current events
• Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labor by Tom Zaniello - The only comprehensive, annotated guide to films about working people, labor activism, labor history, and related political and economic issues. [05-04-2007] Film
• Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement by Rick Fantasia - The publisher writes: "This concise overview of the labor movement in the United States focuses on why American workers have failed to develop the powerful unions that exist in other industrialized countries. Packed with valuable analysis and information, 'Hard Work' explores historical perspectives, examines social and political policies, and brings us inside today's unions, providing an excellent introduction to labor in America." [04-04-2007] Current events
• Three Strikes: Labor's Heartland Losses and What They Mean for Working Americans by Stephen Franklin - The publisher writes: "This eloquently written book chronicles the massive, protracted strikes waged against three large corporations in Decatur, Illinois, in the 1990s. Veteran journalist Stephen Franklin shows how labor disputes at Bridgestone/ Firestone, Caterpillar, and A. E. Staley left lasting scars on this town and its citizens--and marked a turning point in American labor history. When workers went on strike to retain such basic rights as job security and the 8-hour day, the corporations hit back with unprecedented hard-line tactics. Through the moving stories of individual workers and union activists, Franklin illuminates the hardships and disillusionment left in the wake of the strikes, and the powerful forces that caught an unprepared labor leadership off guard. He vividly portrays how the balance of labor-management power was shifted by corporate globalization, cutthroat labor practices, the outdated responses of national unions and government regulators, and an apathetic public. Reflecting on the hard-won lessons of Decatur, the book describes how the quality of work and life are now threatened--not just for blue-collar workers, but for all Americans--and what it will take to safeguard them." [03-04-2007] Current events
• The Practical Utopians by Steve Leikin - Subtitled "American Workers and the Cooperative Movement in the Gilded Age", this is our first labour book of the day that relates to the co-operative movement. [02-04-2007] Labour history - USA
• Strikebreaking and Intimidation: Mercenaries and Masculinity in Twentieth-Century America by Stephen H Norwood - The first systematic study of strikebreaking, intimidation, and anti-unionism in the United States. [31-03-2007] Union-busting
• From the Ashes of the Old: American Labor and America's Future by Stanley Aronowitz - From the New York Times review: "In an era when big money dominates politics, when giant corporations control much of the economy and the national discourse, and when the divide between haves and have-nots grows ever wider, Aronowitz, a former factory worker and now a sociology professor at the City University of New York, sees a revived labor movement as the best antidote to all these developments." Available used for as low as $10.98. [30-03-2007] Current events
• A Lexicon of Labor: More Than 500 Key Terms, Biographical Sketches, and Historical Highlights Concerning Labor in America by R Emmett Murray - An innovative and informative mini-encyclopedia of work and workers in America. Only $9.95. [29-03-2007] Reference
• Make Easy Money with Google: Using the Adsense Advertising Program by Eric Giguere - Forget that bit about 'easy money' -- Google's keyword based advertising is something that LabourStart pioneered the use of in the trade union movement. In the last 3 years, we've shown over 17 million ads, bringing some 168,000 new visitors to our website at a laughably low cost. This brand-new title, weighing in at 304 pages, sounds like an indispensable addition to your library of the books you need to use the web for campaigning and organizing. [28-03-2007] Information technology
• Child Labor by Raintree Issues - For 11 - 12 year olds, from the "Face the Facts" series of books. Supposedly, a balanced account of the issues. (The case for child labour is included?) [27-03-2007] Children
• Free the Children: A Young Man Fights Against Child Labor and Proves That Children Can Change the World by Craig Kielburger - The publisher writes: " Here is the dramatic and moving story of one child's transformation from a normal, middle-class kid from the suburbs to an activist, fighting against child labor on the world stage of international human rights. Making headlines around the globe, Craig Keilburger and his organization, Free the Children, which he founded at the age of twelve, have brought unprecedented attention to the worldwide abuse of children's rights. "Free the Children"is a passionate and astounding story and a moving testament to the power that children and young adults have to change the world, as witnessed through the achievements of one remarkable young man." Available new and used for as low as $5.50. [26-03-2007] Children
• Debs by Ronald Radosh - Yesterday, we offered you a book in Debs' own words, and last month the classic biography of the man, so today here's an odd one: a 35-year old used version of a very early book by Ron Radosh -- on the man who turned socialism into a mass movement in America. [25-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Debs - His Life - Writings and Speeches by Eugene V. Debs - Used hardcover. Okay, it's expensive but it would complete your collection, right? [24-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Which Side Are You On?: Ken Loach and His Films by Anthony Hayward - The third and last of our series of books with the same time but utterly different content. This 352-page hardcover book profiles the British film-maker whose films about working class life, trade union organizing, and the Spanish civil war should be familiar to all trade unionists. [23-03-2007] Film
• Which Side Are You On?: The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 by John W Hevener - The second of our series of books with the same title, this one is a lot closer to the original union song. "They say in Harlan County, there are no neutrals there . . ." Don't be neutral; show which side you are on by buying this book and helping to support LabourStart! [22-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back by Thomas Geoghegan - Today we begin with a series of books each with the same title -- the name of a great union song -- but completely different content. Thomas Geoghegan's critically acclaimed book is an "eloquent plea for the relevance of organized labor in America with an afterword covering the labor movement through the 1990s". Can be purchased new or used, for as little as $5.50. [21-03-2007] Current events
• Teamster Politics by Farrell Dobbs - A sequel to yesterday's LabourStart Book of the Day, Teamster Rebellion. [20-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs - LabourStart reader Lucien Lenoire writes: "A book series I recommend to anyone who is interested in the labor struggles of the 1930s is the Teamster series by Farrell Dobbs, a Teamster organiser, first in the strikes that made Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA a union town. He went on to lead the organisation of a quarter million over the road drivers in the Mid West USA in the late 1930s. In my opinion, this example led to the organisation of industrial unions in the USA and Canada." [19-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Reflections on the Way to the Gallows by Mikiso Hane - LabourStart reader Michele Bisping writes: "A collection of entries of diaries kept by Japanese women who were committed trade unionists, communists and revolutionaries in pre-war Japan. As the title suggests many of these women paid with their life for their ideology and active struggle." [18-03-2007] Japan
• Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology by Joyce L. Kornbluh - If you own only one book about the Industrial Workers of the World, this is probably going to be it. Recommended by a LabourStart reader. [17-03-2007] IWW
• Labor's Untold Story by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais - "The adventure story of the battles, betrayals and victories of American working men and women," according to LabourStart reader (and local IAM president) James T. Pappas Jr. [16-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell - This book was recommended by more LabourStart readers than any other. You can read it online here, or you can buy a copy and make us very happy. Thanks Chris Coates, Stuart Maurice, Alan Sprung, Geraldine Hughes, Mickey Poland and the others who recommended it. [15-03-2007] Literature
• Transition From Below by Karl Von Holdt - Subtitled "forging trade unionism and workplace change in South Africa," this is our first book of the day from Africa. Recommended to us by Buhle Zuma, Communications Officer, National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI) in South Africa. [14-03-2007] South Africa
• Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization? by Kimberly Ann Elliott and Richard B. Freeman - Yes, say the authors, who are strong supporters of trade unionism. [13-03-2007] Current events
• In Transit: The Transport Workers Union in New York City, 1933-1966 by Joshua Freeman - Recommended by LabourStart reader Harold Bell, this book "talks about the role of Irish Catholics and the Communist party in organizing the TWU". [12-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - Carol Phillips, International Director for the Canadian Auto Workers Union, writes of novels like this one -- "for working class high school grads like me they served as an important legitimisation of my anger". [11-03-2007] Literature
• We Are All Leaders: The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s by Staughton Lynd - The publisher writes: "From African American nutpickers in St. Louis, chemical and rubber workers in Akron, textile workers in the South, and bootleg miners in Pennsylvania to tenant farmers in the Mississippi Delta, packinghouse and garment workers in Minnesota, seamen in San Francisco, and labor party campaigns throughout the country, workers in the 1930's were experimenting with community-based unionism." [10-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Singlejack Solidarity by Stan Weir - A collection of essays. The publisher writes: "Blue-collar intellectual and activist publisher, Stan Weir devoted his life to the advocacy of his fellow workers. Weir was both a thoughtful observer and an active participant in many of the key struggles that shaped the labor movement and the political left in postwar America. He reported firsthand from the front lines of decisive fights over the nature of unions in the auto industry, the resistance to automation on the waterfront, and battles over racial integration in the workplace and within unions themselves." [09-03-2007] Current events
• Rebel Girl: An Autobiography - My First Life by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn - Today is International Women's Day -- so we've got a very special book for the occasion. Joe Hill wrote the classic "Rebel Girl" for Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and though her life later took a turn toward Stalinism, in her early years she was one of the great organizers for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The perfect gift for the rebel girl(s) in your life. [08-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen - On Friday, we suggested you check out Nielsen's more recent "Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed" -- but this book is the classic, the one that summed up everything Nielsen knows about designing websites that work. Should be one the bookshelf of every trade union webmaster on the planet. Buy a copy for your union. [07-03-2007] Information technology
• Cesar Chavez: A Hero for Everyone by Soto/lohstoeter - Biography of the Mexican-American labor leader, founder of the United Farm Workers. For children aged 9 - 12. [06-03-2007] Children
• Lyddie by Katherine Paterson - Tells the story of a child labourer in Massachusetts fabric mills in the 1800s. Goes into great detail about working conditions at that time, without being overbearing. For ages 12 up. [05-03-2007] Children
• Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed by Jakob Nielsen - Jakob Nielsen is the world's leading expert on website usability. If you are responsible for a trade union website (even one for your local branch), you owe it to yourself to be familiar with Nielsen's website where he posts weekly columns -- and with his books. This is a good one to start with. [04-03-2007] Information technology
• Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: A Pictorial History of Working People in New York City by Debra E. Bernhardt and Rachel Bernstein - According to the publisher, "a lavishly illustrated portfolio of New York City's workers and the marvels they built. Astounding in their own right, the photographs are complemented by poignant oral histories that tell the stories behind the images." Highly recommended by a LabourStart reader in the US. [03-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• Pages from a Worker's Life by William Z. Foster - William Z. Foster spent the last decades of his life as one of America's leading Stalinists. His opponents used to say that the "Z" in his name stood for "zig zag," as he'd carefully toe the Soviet line. But Foster made his reputation in the 1920s as one of the country's outstanding militant trade union leaders, and his work paved the way for the great CIO organizing drives. One LabourStart reader in Canada wrote: "I read it many years ago and found it quite enlightening; it gave me many insights in the U.S. labour movement." [02-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Triangle Fire by Leon Stein - We've already made one book about the tragic Triangle fire of 25 March 1911 a Book of the Day. But one of our readers promptly wrote in to recommend this one too. The publisher writes: "The Cornell edition of Leon Stein's 1962 account features 16 illustrations, some never before published. A new introduction by the journalist William Greider makes clear that accounts of dangerous workplaces and sweatshop conditions are still all-too-relevant today, ninety years after the fire. The story of the catastrophe and the doomed Triangle Shirtwaist workers, as told by one of the great labor journalists, will not soon be forgotten." [01-03-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border by David Bacon - The publisher writes: "Based on gripping firsthand accounts, this book investigates the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on those who labor in the agricultural fields and maquiladora factories on the border. Journalist David Bacon paints a powerful portrait of poverty, repression, and struggle, offering a devastating critique of NAFTA in the most pointed and in-depth examination of border workers published to date." Just published this month. [28-02-2007] Current events
• Kids on strike! by Susan Ca Bartoletti - For children aged 8-12. The publisher writes: "By the early 1900s, nearly two million children were working in the United States. From the coal mines of Pennsylvania to the cotton mills of New England, children worked long hours every day under stunningly inhumane conditions. After years and years of oppression, children began to organize and make demands for better wages, fairer housing costs, and safer working environments. Some strikes led by young people were successful; some were not. Some strike stories are shocking, some are heartbreaking, and many are inspiring -- but all are a testimony to the strength of mind and spirit of the children who helped build American industry." [27-02-2007] Children
• Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can! by Diana Cohn - Finally available in paperback, this is a great children's book about a janitor's strike in Los Angeles. Illustrated in full color, in both English and Spanish, it introduces kids to the trade union movement. Winner of several awards. If you have kids, buy this book. [26-02-2007] Children
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - The publishers's summary: "Forced from their home, the Joad family is lured to California to find work; instead they find disillusionment, exploitation, and hunger." One of the great books of our time. [25-02-2007] Literature
• Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs - Used - only $9.00. One LabourStart writer recommending this book wrote: "A great handbook for all rank and file union activists, and you don't have to be a Trot to appreciate it." [24-02-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Other America by Michael Harrington - The classic study of poverty in America, by the country's outstanding socialist of the latter part of the 20th century. With an introduction by Irving Howe. [23-02-2007] Current events
• Python 2.1 Bible by David Brueck and Stephen Tanner - Python is one of the most popular languages for writing interactive websites and is an alternative to Perl and PHP. This has got to be the thickest and heaviest book around, and I'm using it to write my first Python applications even now. 731 pages long, you won't need another book on the subject. For trade union webmasters who want to upgrade their skills. [22-02-2007] Information technology
• Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist by Nick Salvatore - Railway workers leader, presidential candidate, federal prisoner and America's most important socialist, Eugene V. Debs was once a household name in the USA. This is his biography, available for $21.95. [21-02-2007] Labour history - USA
• Shut Up Shut Down by Mark Nowak - Poems. The author describes the book as "five long photodocumentary pieces on deindustrialization in the U.S.". According to Publishers Weekly, "Nowak's poems articulate capitalism's breaking points as they subsume actual people." [20-02-2007] Poetry
• Always Bring a Crowd by Beatrice Lumpkin - The story of Frank Lumpkin, steelworker. When Wisconsin Steel closed without paying the workers in Chicago, Frank Lumpkin organized the Save Our Jobs Committee. They fought 17 years and won settlements of $19 million. Son of Georgia cotton sharecroppers, Lumpkin became a professional boxer, orange picker, construction worker, merchant seaman, steel-worker and leader of the Communist Party USA. [19-02-2007] Labour history - USA
• Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle - On March 25, 1911, 146 workers (123 of them women) died in the worst disaster to hit New York City until September 11, 2001. But this time it wasn't terrorism but capitalist greed that caused the death of so many innocents. This is the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire -- on sale for only $10.95 (list price: $14.00). [18-02-2007] Labour history - USA
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich - The publisher writes: "Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages. Social critic Barbara Ehrenreich joined them, moving into a trailer and working as a waitress, hotel maid, and Wal-Mart sales clerk. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and duality." [17-02-2007] Current events
• Content Syndication With RSS by Ben Hammersley - If you run a national trade union website, you'll want to syndicate your content to local and regional sites. If you run a local site, you'll want to know how to get syndicated content from other sources. This is a great introduction to the subject of content syndication on the web. [16-02-2007] Information technology
• The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler - The publisher writes: "a searing, intimate portrait of working American families struggling against insurmountable odds to escape poverty." Kind of reminds one of Michael Harrington's "The Other America", published more than 40 years ago -- doesn't it? [15-02-2007] Current events
• Autobiography of Mother Jones by Mary Harris Jones - It's Valentines Day, comrades. Seriously, this extraordinary woman's life and her telling of will inspire you to rush out and organize. And the book's at a ridiculous price: $7.95. [14-02-2007] Labour history - USA
• The Bobbin Girl by Emily Arnol Mccully - Based on the