Labor History

As labor unions and movements began to form and coalesce in the 19th century, the tensions between workers and companies led to demonstrations, encounters, and even conflicts that descended into violence. Among those, few were as notorious as the fight that took place on April 20, 1914 at Ludlow in the Southern Colorado coalfields between the Colorado National Guard and striking miners at a United Mine Workers camp. In the previous several decades, there had been a number of violent incidents during strikes, but in 1914, the Ludlow tragedy deeply shocked the nation.

The French painter Jean Hélion’s unique and deeply moving account of his experiences in Nazi prisoner-of-war camps prefigures the even darker stories that would emerge from the concentration camps. This serious adventure tale begins with Hélion’s infantry platoon fleeing from the German army and warplanes as they advanced through France in the early days of the war. The soldiers chant as they march and run, “They shall not have me!” but are quickly captured and sent to hard labor.

En Fragmentados Andrés Hatum describe, analiza y ejemplifica las distintas formas en que el trabajo nos arruinó y fragmentó la vida. Arruinar, por lo inhumano de ciertos trabajos, en particular en momentos como la Revolución Industrial; fragmentar porque, en vez de estar integrados en nuestra vida, los trabajos se metieron como una cuña para complicárnosla.

In 1923, four short years since the end of the First World War, and after the passing of the Act which gave all men the vote, an inconclusive election result and the prospect of a constitutional crisis opened the door for a radically different sort of government: men from working-class backgrounds who had never before occupied the corridors of power at Westminster. The Wild Men tells the story of that first Labour administration – its unexpected birth, fraught existence, and controversial downfall.

Where do you turn when you can trust no one? World War II is over, but the fighting in Eastern Europe continues as Lithuanian resistance fighters wreak havoc on the Russian army. Colonel Karmachov, a Soviet military officer, is incensed by the tiny yet deadly resistance. Anxious to destroy them, he forces a young Lithuanian, Anton Dubus, to join the rebels as a spy. In Book Two of the Amber War series, resistance fighter Ludmelia Kudirka faces treachery as she works with Polish partisans to get a man through the Iron Curtain in a last-ditch effort to gain help from the West and keep the ...

Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain is the remarkable story of a couple who came together during the Civil Rights Movement and made fighting for equality and civil and workers’ rights their purpose for more than sixty years, overcoming adversity—with the strength of their love and commitment—to bring about meaningful change.

From the author of the award-winning Waiting on Zapote Street comes a story based on true events. In 1960’s central Cuba, a young middle-class woman’s life is interrupted as she finds herself a victim in what will quickly become a hurricane of world politics and idealistic dogma. *** “Betty Viamontes’s books are not intended to be classic literature. Instead they are deliberately simple, about real people caught in an historical cataclysm. Like most holocaust memoirs, their strength lies in their simplicity. Ms. Viamontes tells a simple story of normal people, allowing the reader's ...

Field has spent his adult life fighting against poverty in Britain, through parliament and through his strong personal influence. Poverty for him has injustice at its root and as he explains in this book, he has found allies on all sides of the political spectrum. He was appointed by Tony Blair to be the Secretary of State for Pensions, but the reforms he advocated were so radical and essentially just, that Tony Blair could not contemplate them and Field stood down. Previously he had been Chairman of the Work and Pensions Select Committee under John Major.

America searched for an answer to "The Labor Question" during the Progressive Era in an effort to avoid the unrest and violence that flared so often in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Theatre has long been an art form of subterfuge and concealment. Working in the Wings: New Perspectives on Theatre History and Labor, edited by Elizabeth A. Osborne and Christine Woodworth, brings attention to what goes on behind-the-scenes, challenging and revising our understanding of work, theatre, and history.

In this account, Gottlieb Mittelberger reveals the plight of poor German families who migrated to America in the 18th century. It was normal at the time for poor Europeans to fund their journey to the New World by agreeing to a period of indentured servitude. Yet what Mittleberger observed was more akin to slavery: workers were auctioned off upon arrival with no formal contract. This enlightening record reveals a darker side to early American history.

From the number-one international best-selling author of The Revenant - the book that inspired the award-winning movie - comes the remarkable true story of the worst mining disaster in American history. In 1917, the lives of a company of miners changed forever when the underground labyrinth of tunnels in which they worked burst into flames. Within an hour, more than 400 men would be locked in a battle to survive. Within three days, 164 of them would be dead.