Bright Web in the Darkness

by Alexander Saxton

A largely ignored World War II story that sheds light on labor, race, and friendship in the shipyards of Richmond, California.
Set in the San Francisco Bay area during World War II, Bright Web in the Darkness is a novel that illuminates the role of women workers during the war and the efforts of African Americans to achieve regular standing as union members. The central characters are two young women—one black, one white—who meet in a welding class and become friends as they work to qualify for the well-paid jobs opening to women as male workers are drafted. Sensitively and presciently written, this novel addresses social issues that still demand our attention.

Genres: Fiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1997

Reviews

[Dante · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75/5... fan service to bay area-livers. I thought this book would be much better if it didn't spend 60% of its time focusing on characters I didn't really care about. Ending felt strange and possibly anticlimactic.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent look at the San Francisco Bay Area during WWII. Brings together various actors dealing with the issues of race, labor unions and the competing interests of capital and an emerging diverse working class. It looks at the foibles of complacency and corruption within bureaucratic labor organizations. Follows various characters through their changing lives that the war brings for women and black shipyard workers as well as the reticence of labor officials and the workers need to create a new solidarity not offered by the union officials but in a wildcat strike of black workers and their supporters.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

And I read parts of this in chairs inherited from a friend who inherited them from Alexander Saxton. Yep.

ps. 81, 87, 89, 175, 241.