Overview

A spectacular example of collective protest, the Great Strike of 1877--actually a sequence of related actions--was America's first national strike and the first major strike against the railroad industry. In some places, non-railroad workers also abandoned city businesses, creating one of the nation's first general strikes. Mobilizing hundreds of thousands of workers, the Great Strikes of 1877 transformed the nation's political landscape, shifting the primary political focus from Reconstruction to labor, capital, and the changing role of the state.  Probing essays by distinguished historians explore the social, political, regional, and ethnic landscape of the Great Strikes of 1877: long-term effects on state militias and national guard units; ethnic and class characterization of strikers; pictorial representations of poor laborers in the press; organizational strategies employed by railroad workers; participation by blacks; violence against Chinese immigrants; and the developing tension between capitalism and racial equality in the United States.  Contributors: Joshua Brown, Steven J. Hoffman, Michael Kazin, David Miller, Richard Schneirov, David O. Stowell, and Shelton Stromquist.

Full Product Details

Author:   David O. Stowell ,  Joshua Brown ,  Steven J Hoffman ,  Michael Kazin
Publisher:   University of Illinois Press
Imprint:   University of Illinois Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
ISBN:  

9780252032417

ISBN 10:   0252032411
Pages:   216
Publication Date:   04 April 2008
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Reviews

These insightful essays let us glimpse the nation's first responses, its initial stumbling steps in a painful, sometimes bloody process of adjustment that, in many ways, occupies the nation to this day. -- Business History Review

As many historians consider the strikes of 1877 to be the beginning of the organized labor movement in the United States, the lessons learned from this epic can serve to educate activists of today, and Stowell s work provides a concise guide. -- Labor Studies Journal

Author Information

David O. Stowell is a project specialist for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 200 United and the author of Streets, Railroads, and the Great Strike of 1877.

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