George Meany And His Times: A Biography

by Archie Robinson

Draws on interviews and unpublished documents to re-create the life and times of the outspoken and influential labor leader and the drama of the labor movement in which he played a central role

445 pages, Hardcover

First published January 11, 1982

Reviews

[Nicholas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not a biography. It is a memoir re-assembled into a very long puff piece. Robinson quotes George Meany as taking offense to George McGovern's description of him as a "labor broker" - but McGovern's attack is correct, if for the wrong reasons. Meany lead the AFL-CIO like a corporation rather than the social movement it was, and by brokering backroom deals with CEOs and presidents as a business unionist, Meany's leadership, far from the glowing report of this book, led to a tragic decline in labor's dynamism and power.

[Craig Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too close to Meany to amount to much more than a slightly hagiographic source of quotations from the AFL-CIO leader. The chapter on Walter Reuther has nothing to say about the nature of the opposition to Meany or the reality that he had the fix in on every significant decision the AFL-CIO made.