American City: A Rank and File History of Minneapolis

by Charles Rumford Walker

In the spring of 1934, a small group of militant union organizers led Minneapolis truckers on a series of strikes that sought to break the city's antiunion grip. The striking truckers, in protest of scab workers, took to the streets of the city's warehouse district where they faced violent opposition from the police and members of the Citizen's Alliance, a group representing Minneapolis's business community. The conflict exploded when police fired on the unarmed strikers, killing four and injuring countless others. The events surrounding Bloody Friday shifted the balance of power between labor and business in Minneapolis and proved to be a significant victory for the labor movement nationwide, contributing to the ratification of the landmark National Labor Relations Act. When first published in 1937, Charles Rumford Walker's American City was praised as an evenhanded portrayal of the truckers' strike. Focusing on the personal experiences of the participants, Walker recounts the interests, motives, and passions on both sides of the conflict, capturing the heated emotions of those involved. He offers a vivid account of a period that transformed Minneapolis and forged the way for workers' rights nationwide.

Genres: Nonfiction, Labor, History

347 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2005

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walker's work was written in 1937, a mere 3 years after the Teamsters strike transformed the city from an anti-labor bastion to a powerful center of leftist activity, as a mood of the nation shifted left. Though Walker spends a chapter setting up the history of Minneapolis as a trading city and quickly growing place ruled by business interests, most of the book focuses on the strike. Worth checking out to see what writers were saying at the time.

[Joe Shoenfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful historical document from 1937. Captures a sense of the civil war that began -- and ended -- in Minneapolis during the Depression. Beautifully written and very intelligent.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not often a reprint of an older non-fiction book remains vital.