The Unmaking of the American Working Class

by Reg Theriault

Portrays the American blue-collar culture as decreasing, citing administrations in the second half of the twentieth century that have eliminated large portions of the working class and how this has compromised the nation.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 20, 2003

Reviews

[JBP]

Written by a longtime longshoreman--this book of essays covers all kinds of topics about being a longshoreman, involved in unions and other working class/blue collar jobs that seem to be disappearing in the USA. Some are more interesting to me than others. I love the union stories but some of the descriptions of various longshoreman work gets a bit old.

[Aria]

If one has had no previous exposure to the history of the class struggle in the states, this is as good a place to start as any. There's not much to offer those already familiar with such history, though. If one has read Zinn's

A People's History of the United States

, then this will all be old news except for some specific longshoremen work tales, which in particular aren't that interesting. Likely a 3-star read (or better) for newbies to class struggle, though.