Pittsburgh and the Great Steel Strike of 1919
Pittsburgh and the Great Steel Strike of 1919

Author: Ryan C. Brown

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1467142581

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In 1919, the steel industry of Pittsburgh was on the brink of war. Years of labor strife broke out into open conflict as steel workers launched the biggest strike to date in the United States, paralyzing mills from Youngstown to Johnstown and beyond. Radical unionists, anarchists and Bolshevik sympathizers set bombs, planned for revolution and fought police in violent battles. As the postwar Red Scare began to sweep the nation, federal agents used the strikes as an excuse to comb Pittsburgh's immigrant neighborhoods looking for communists. Author Ryan C. Brown details the harrowing days of the Great Steel Strike of 1919 that rocked Pittsburgh and its seemingly impregnable "principality of steel."

Out of This Furnace
Out of This Furnace

Author: Thomas Bell

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2013-02-07

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0822978865

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Our all-time bestselling title, this classic and powerful novel spanning three generations of a Slovak immigrant family has been adopted for course use in more than 250 colleges and universities nationwide. Out of This Furnace, is Thomas Bell's most compelling achievement. Its story of three generations of an immigrant Slovak family - the Dobrejcaks - still stands as a fresh and extraordinary accomplishment. The novel begins in the mid-1880s with the naive blundering career of Djuro Kracha. It tracks his arrival from the old country as he walked from New York to White Haven, his later migration to the steel mills of Braddock, and his eventual downfall through foolish financial speculations and an extramarital affair. The second generation is represented by Kracha's daughter, Mary, who married Mike Dobrejcak, a steel worker. Their decent lives, made desperate by the inhuman working conditions of the mills, were held together by the warm bonds of their family life, and Mike's political idealism set an example for the children. Dobie Dobrejcak, the third generation, came of age in the 1920s determined not to be sacrificed to the mills. His involvement in the successful unionization of the steel industry climaxed a half-century struggle to establish economic justice for the workers. Out of This Furnace is a document of ethnic heritage and of a violent and cruel period in our history, but it is also a superb story. The writing is strong and forthright, and the novel builds constantly to its triumphantly human conclusion.

Meet You in Hell
Meet You in Hell

Author: Les Standiford

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2006-06-13

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1400047684

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Two founding fathers of American industry. One desire to dominate business at any price. “Masterful . . . Standiford has a way of making the 1890s resonate with a twenty-first-century audience.”—USA Today “The narrative is as absorbing as that of any good novel—and as difficult to put down.”—Miami Herald The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the riveting story of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the bloody steelworkers’ strike that transformed their fabled partnership into a furious rivalry. Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, Meet You in Hell captures the majesty and danger of steel manufacturing, the rough-and-tumble of the business world, and the fraught relationship between “the world’s richest man” and the ruthless coke magnate to whom he entrusted his companies. The result is an extraordinary work of popular history. Praise for Meet You in Hell “To the list of the signal relationships of American history . . . we can add one more: Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick . . . The tale is deftly set out by Les Standiford.”—Wall Street Journal “Standiford tells the story with the skills of a novelist . . . a colloquial style that is mindful of William Manchester’s great The Glory and the Dream.”—Pittsburgh Tribune-Review “A muscular, enthralling read that takes you back to a time when two titans of industry clashed in a battle of wills and egos that had seismic ramifications not only for themselves but for anyone living in the United States, then and now.”—Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River

The Autobiography of Mother Jones
The Autobiography of Mother Jones

Author: Mother Jones

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2023-12-17

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13:

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The Autobiography of Mother Jones is a compelling account of the life and struggles of one of the most influential labor leaders in American history. Written in a straightforward, no-nonsense style, the book provides a firsthand look at the labor movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mother Jones does not shy away from detailing the harsh realities faced by workers and the lengths to which she went to fight for their rights. Her powerful voice and unwavering determination shine through the pages, making this autobiography a valuable primary source for understanding the labor movement of the time. Mother Jones, born Mary Harris Jones, was a fearless advocate for labor rights and social justice. Her personal experiences as a teacher, mother, and advocate for the disenfranchised shaped her beliefs and actions. The Autobiography of Mother Jones reflects her passion for justice and equality, offering readers a glimpse into the life of a remarkable woman who dedicated her life to the fight for workers' rights. I highly recommend The Autobiography of Mother Jones to readers interested in labor history, social activism, and women's contributions to the labor movement. Mother Jones' powerful narrative and unwavering commitment to social justice make this book a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the struggles and triumphs of the American labor movement.

A People's History of the United States
A People's History of the United States

Author: Howard Zinn

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2003-02-04

Total Pages: 764

ISBN-13: 9780060528423

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Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.

Blood on the Forge
Blood on the Forge

Author: William Attaway

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2013-12-11

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1590178084

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Praised by both Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison, this classic of Black literature is a brutal depiction of the Great Migration from the Jim Crow South This brutally gripping novel about the African-American Great Migration follows the three Moss brothers, who flee the rural South to work in industries up North. Delivered by day into the searing inferno of the steel mills, by night they encounter a world of surreal devastation, crowded with dogfighters, whores, cripples, strikers, and scabs. Keenly sensitive to character, prophetic in its depiction of environmental degradation and globalized labor, Attaway's novel is an unprecedented confrontation with the realities of American life, offering an apocalyptic vision of the melting pot not as an icon of hope but as an instrument of destruction. Blood on the Forge was first published in 1941, when it attracted the admiring attention of Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison. It is an indispensable account of a major turning point in black history, as well as a triumph of individual style, charged with the concentrated power and poignance of the blues.