I wanted to like this, but I could not. I think i'm just not a fan of this formula for nonfiction. Felt a bit cursory. But I do like the notion of not framing America as a perpetually good entity

If you are a fan of narrative nonfiction, this book might seems a bit academic for your taste, but that is precisely what I enjoyed. I am was not raised in the U.S. mainland, so I don't know how well known these strikes are, but I had only heard of two of them before. I found this book very informative as it helped me understand how these strikes really did shape the United States as we know it today.

I was looking for a general history book on strikes, but this one gets too clever too fast. I get the mill strikes and Haymarket square riot, but a slave strike would seem like a tough needle to thread. I was looking for more commonly known strikes and maybe some details on others. It doesn't seem as if some of these strikes would make the groundswell of change the author claims. It is a good explanation and good explanation to justify the impact, but I was not convinced on too many of them. Good examination of strikes, week correlation to lasting impact.

Regretfully, I ran out of time on this book. It fell through the cracks and I am unable to download it again. The idea of tracing American history by studying a series of era-defining strikes is a very good one. The only bones of contention could be in the choices made. These ten strikes were important. So were others, such as the Memphis sanitation workers strike in 1968. It was the event that brought Dr. King to the city and we all know what happened next.

I would love to review this book but, as I said, I was standing on the dock when the train left the station.

Sorry about that.

This was a fascinating read, rich with historical detail and very relevant to the present day. I recommend it to anyone interested in labor history and/or the current state of labor in the U.S.

very interesting read. Never thought about how strikes would affect the country in ways that were not labor related. I did not know about all the sexism and racism that some of the labor unions were based on.

Even book giveaways make me sad. Thousands of people put their names in for the chance to win a single free copy of the latest silly romance novel or knuckleheaded apoca-prepper saga. By comparison, when I signed up to receive a free copy of this book via Netgalley, there was not even the suggestion that some poorly-paid employee of a dying publishing company might vet my application to see if I was a big enough influencer to merit a freebie. If I wanted this history of how long dead complete strangers often lost their lives and livelihoods to win work benefits later enjoyed (and then surrendered) by self and ungrateful millions, I could have it, immediately.

Of course, reading the content of this book won't make you feel any better about humanity, either. While the book makes clear that unions were and are not uniformly populated by little angels, the horrific exploitation and cruelty that non-unionized workers were subjected to makes it difficult to feel anything but sympathy. Then, of course, efforts to organize their ranks and improve their lot often bring further adversity raining down, often at the hands of authorized representatives of government, but also occasionally at the hands of private paramilitaries.

Even the reviews of this book are depressing. One two-star review mocks the author (a university professor) for using the personal pronouns “we” and “us”, lumping himself in (so goes the criticism) with workers with whom he really has nothing in common. Call me a lefty apologist if you will, but it is clear that the traditional image of the workers as exclusively people tending a roaring smelter or clanking printing press is as outdated as hoop skirts, starched collars, and centralized economic planning. Times change -- the definition of a worker should change with them.

Furthermore, negative reviews of this book indicate to me that the reviewers never really got past the beginning of this book, which, to be fair, has a worshipful tone toward unions and unionizing. If you stick with this book, you will see that the author has a thorough knowledge of the shortcomings of unions, past and present, especially racism, but also corruption, intolerance of dissent, and lack of follow-up. This last I thought was an important point that is often lost in traditional histories, even when they are nominally sympathetic to unions, because often the great labor leaders and other lefty celebrities followed the spotlight, while workers had their gains reduced or even reversed completely once the public's eye had turned elsewhere.

I didn't love this book every moment and sometimes quibbled with certain statements. I noticed a few spelling and grammar errors, and sometimes I thought the text could have contained a few more citations. But I was glad I stuck with it, especially as it filled me in on labor actions of the last fifty years or so which I knew little about.

Thanks to Netgalley and The New Press for unquestioningly giving me a free electronic galley copy of this book to review.

History Repeats Itself...Again.

Since the beginnings of the industrial age, American workers have searched for ways to get better working conditions, treatment, pay, and benefits. This book documents their struggles for the past 200 years, through wars, social change, and innovations that have changed how we work and live.

The scope of this topic must have been difficult to structure in order to make comparisons. The author has done a fine job making this book an informative, but also interesting read. Loomis writes in a way that reveals that the issues and events of the past are not dry and dusty history, but are still impacting us today.

The struggle has never ended.

This is an excellent and necessary telling of American history. So much of Labor is forgotten in our common narrative of ourselves. This book helps re-orient us properly. The Labor movement built America not just literally, but socially and legally as well through its many battles. I will be recommending this. Bravo!

This was way too preachy from the very beginning. I think this could have been a fascinating history of the labor movement in America, but it was far too focused on the author's opinions and not on just telling the history. No thanks to this book.

This book was fairly informative about various labor movements throughout American history. It definitely has its pro-labor and pro-liberal bias. It is pretty open about that. My only real issue was that it felt a bit repetitive. Basically every strike had the same means of getting things done and the government and the bosses had the same means of putting them down. In general though, it was pretty good to get a handle on individual strikes and the labor movement.

New Press publishes this text and other books in an effort to "promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of the issues vital to our democracy." A HISTORY OF AMERICA IN TEN STRIKES by Erik Loomis is full of information, but it is extremely dense and therefore about as inviting to high school students as (I am sorry to say) its rather bland cover. That is unfortunate because Loomis, an associate professor of history, is clearly knowledgeable about his subject. He includes an almost 20 page appendix describing 150 major events in US labor history and he provides extensive notes (over 30 pages) and a helpful index. Each of the chronologically arranged chapters is devoted to one of the ten strikes, from Lowell Girls to Justice for Janitors. Strong and often biased sentiment ("Despite all the terrible things happening to workers and unions today, the American labor movement will never end so long as we demand justice and equality") appears throughout. Kirkus gave A HISTORY OF AMERICA IN TEN STRIKES a starred review whereas Library Journal disagreed, noting that "it is not an effective introduction to American or labor history."

American History from the point of view of the working man.
Good way of telling of American in history by relating it to strikes in the labor force.

A History of America in Ten Strikes by Erik Loomis is an informative non-fiction book focusing on the importance of strikes and what they they did for the working class of America. Loomis focuses on 10 strikes ranging from the Lowell Mill Girls Strike from 1930-1840 to Justice for Janitors in 1990.
The layout for this book was not what I expected, though it was not a bad way to do it. I expected that each chapter would talk about what happened during the strike and then tie it in with other parts of American History. Instead each strike is framed with a question which is then answered in depth using other strikes and context before going into the strike named at the beginning of the chapter. Once I understood this layout it didn't bother me.
This is definitely not a book to read all at once. There is so much information to absorb. I took breaks every few chapters and went and read a lighter book so that I could fully understand everything in the book. I loved that it had so much information, I learned tons of things that I didn't know already. In fact, it was rare that I already knew the strike that was focused on in the chapters and it was really refreshing to be able to learn so many things. However, it is a lot and it would have been overwhelming if I read it without stopping to read other things inbetween.
While this is an informative book, Loomis’ opinions come through a lot throughout this book. I didn’t expect the rhetoric that is used, I was looking more for an explanation on the strikes, not so much being told how important it is for workers to fight for their rights. While I agree with this ideal it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
A History of America in Ten Strikes is an informative book and not one for someone who is just looking for a general overview. It held my attention for the most part through the usage of real life things that were happening at the time period, such as 12+ hour work days at dangerous jobs for low wages. This book holds real day importance and should be read by anyone who is trying to understand how we got to where we are in our workforce.

History done right! This book will hook you and make you want to learn more about American history. What a great way to capture historical facts in a compelling and interesting way. A History of America in Ten Strikes is an easy to read, easy to digest and easy to follow story of well-researched historical American facts. I enjoyed this book tremendously and learned a lot.

I received an advanced review copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

In a time when organized labor and unions are on the decline, Loomis provides a fierce call to arms to not let US labor rights slip from our fingers. I really enjoyed reading about 10 of the most significant strikes in US history, especially the one he details of slaves to attempted to self-emancipate in the 1800s. I also appreciated his emphasis on how prioritizing racial identity over class identity has been detrimental to the overall progression of workers' rights.

A good history of America in ten labor strikes. The information presented was interesting and written in a way that it was easily understood, unlike others that can use such technical terms they can't be understood. I learned a lot.

Erik Loomis in ‘A History of America in Ten Strikes’ makes no secret of the fact that he sides with those who “throughout American history … wanted to work and live with human dignity” and who thus felt periodically obliged to withdraw their labour, as the employers’ “goal is to exploit us” and they “treat us like garbage”. “Us” is the preferred pronoun of the Associate Professor to express his profound sense of identity and solidarity with the unionised.

This declared bias means that the argument of this book is not, surprisingly, lacking in subtlety. True, Loomis warns at one point that “we should not romanticize strikes” (not least because some strikes were called “to keep workplaces all white”) but this is precisely what Loomis nevertheless ends up doing.

The book comprises an introduction; ten chapters focusing upon a particular strike (with roughly one-third of each chapter examining the strike in question, whilst the remaining two-thirds aim to place “that strike in context of the broader issues affecting Americans at the time”); then there is a conclusion; and finally an appendix comprising a timeline of the 150 most important moments in US labour history, ranging from the first importation of American slaves to Jamestown in 1619, to the 2016 election of President Trump (who is elsewhere characterized as “a fascist Islamophobe”). The ten strikes run from the Lowell Mill Girls Strike of 1830–40, to the Justice for Janitors action in Los Angeles in 1990.

Loomis provides some interesting and accessible narrative but very little by way of incisive analysis. Even the criteria for choosing his ten strikes seem terribly vague. For example we’re told in advance that his consideration of the 1902 Anthracite Strike in Pennsylvania will explain “ the central role of government in deciding the fate of a strike, with both great possibilities and great peril for workers”. This level of platitude suffuses the entire book. Thus the chapter on the 1980 Air Traffic Controllers’ strike, for example, begins by telling us that “When government opposes unions, workers suffer.” Does anyone but the most blinkered neoliberal really need that spelt out, and even when spelt out thus baldly would any neoliberal be persuaded to mend their ways?

Another problem with the book, considered as a work of History, is that Loomis is clearly as much – or more – concerned with the present and the future as he is with the past but whereas Naomi Klein in ‘No is Not Enough’ provides a rousing and plausible plan of campaign for uniting and mobilizing trade unionists, environmentalists, feminists, indigenous people and “the other victims of racism and xenophobia”, Loomis’s hope for “worker justice” in the future rests on turning the Democratic Party once again “into an instrument of workers’ rights” by unspecified “organizing both inside and outside” it.

In short, whilst historically there is power in a union, ‘A History of America in Ten Strikes’ is decidedly anaemic, being as rich in vicarious indignation, as it is poor in insights about the past or detailed proposals for the future.

A stirring book that captures the very essence of collective bargaining and bargaining power by elucidating in great depth and detail ten iconic strikes that transformed the face of the labour movement in the United States of America. This is a very relevant and essential work, especially considering the troubled times that we live in with rampant deregulation eroding the fabric of unionization and putting corporate power squarely back in the hands of the employers.

From the Lowell Mill Girls strike in the 1830s to Justice for Janitors in 1990, the strikes covered by Mr. Loomis bear a relevance that are as important to the present as they were to the times during which the labour uprisings took place. While the concept of strikes might seem rebellious, anti-capitalist and unruly, Mr. Loomis sheds a perspective that is entirely eye opening and illuminating. A strike has the potential to not only increase the living standards of the striking participants but also to foster and nurture a work environment that has solidarity for its spine and collegiate negotiations as its brain.

The list of strikes covered by Mr. Loomis include:

Lowell Mill Girls Strike (Massachusetts, 1830–40)

Slaves on Strike (The Confederacy, 1861–65)

The Eight-Hour Day Strikes (Chicago, 1886)

The Anthracite Strike (Pennsylvania, 1902)

The Bread and Roses Strike (Massachusetts, 1912)

The Flint Sit-Down Strike (Michigan, 1937)

The Oakland General Strike (California, 1946)

Lordstown (Ohio, 1972)

Air Traffic Controllers (1981)

Justice for Janitors (Los Angeles, 1990)

This is one rousing read!

A History of America in Ten Strikes by Erik Loomis is a study of American history told through the labor movement. Loomis is an assistant professor of history at the University of Rhode Island. He blogs at Lawyers, Guns, and Money on labor and environmental issues past and present. His work has also appeared in AlterNet, Truthout, and Salon.

History is long, and memory is short. Three generations ago organized labor and collective bargaining were celebrated and credited with the growth of the middle class. Living wages and the benefit of buying American made goods drove the popularity of unions. Today unions are generally demonized and blamed for sending jobs overseas. Earlier unions were identified with early twentieth-century communism. On the Waterfront (1954) left moviegoers cheering for Brando as the dock workers banded together. Workers once united could negotiate for fair wages and benefits. Organization made workers something more than replaceable cogs in the machine.

In examining strikes in their context of history Loomis demonstrates the validity of certain strikes and the rise and fall of unions in America. Two strikes that I recall are covered in the book. The Air Traffic Controllers strike and the Lordstown Strike. Growing up in Cleveland strikes were part of the regular news from local steel strikes to auto worker strikes. Somewhere in the late 1970s, organized labor began to fail. Japan and Europe recovered from WWII and union demands came to be perceived as too high as demand for American goods shrank. Today most strikes that make the news are teacher's unions and generally looked down upon even though these are the people teaching the next generation of Americans and American workers.

The history of organized labor in America is an interesting struggle of workers trying to get a fair wage for their effort. Six day work weeks and 100 hours of labor was not replaced with the ten hour day until the mid-nineteenth century. By the mid 20th century Americans were working a five day work week of 8 hour days. Unions drove for benefits like medical, holidays, and paid vacations. Today America works harder and longer for less and the middle class is rapidly shrinking.

Loomis gives a detailed history of the rise and fall of American labor.  It's a seemingly permanent struggle to represent workers as a whole from the Wobblies to mine workers to the UAW against big business and at many times the government too. The struggle of American workers is more relevant when put into historical context than when it is captured with sound bites and demagoguery.  A well-done documentation of an under-represented sector of American history.