- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: The Viking press; Rev. ed edition (1934)
- ASIN: B0006AMJE4
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.5 x 4.3 cm
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Class Based Violence in America...
27 Aug 2007
Format:Paperback
Capitalism and the labor movement, two great tastes that taste great together. Ever since the end of the cold war the whole labor/capital struggle has been put on the back burner. Pity, that. Is there any story line that more embodies "modern" times and its impact on indivduals?
I could bore you to death with support for my argument, but will just say that I have an active interest in the history of the ameican labor between 1870 and 1918 and leave it that. So much that is interesting about the United States happened during that time, and almost NONE of it had to do with national politics. If you think the study of history requires a focus on national policial events, you know little of history.
I picked up Louis adamic's "Dynamite: the history of class violence in america", after learning about its existence while reading about the history of the Los Angeles Times.
This book specifically examines episodes of violence by organized labor against the owning class. I think recent concern over "terrorism" gives this subject heightened interest. The labor movement were "domestic terrorists" way before the term was in vogue.
This book also points to the fondness for violence that lies in the heart of America. America, always violence. Any doubt that a proposensity for violence is "As american as apple pie?" This is a trait that extends from our gun wielding criminals, to our culture taste, to our justice system all the way on up to our deal old President. And mind you, I'm not saying "good" or "bad" about this particular cultural characterstic- it is just fact.
Dynamite! was originally published in 1933 and then republished in 1968. I found a paperback version of the '68 reprint on amazon. It runs about 420 pages. This length is mitigated by the fact that the writing style is "journalistic" and the format of the narrative is anecodtal (I.e. "the next struggle between capital and labor came in 1908 when miners in Wyoming... Etc). Though the language is a tad dated, the journalistic style keeps eveything moving along quickly. Your reference point should be one of those books that is based on a New Yorker article- Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point", for one example.
I could bore you to death with support for my argument, but will just say that I have an active interest in the history of the ameican labor between 1870 and 1918 and leave it that. So much that is interesting about the United States happened during that time, and almost NONE of it had to do with national politics. If you think the study of history requires a focus on national policial events, you know little of history.
I picked up Louis adamic's "Dynamite: the history of class violence in america", after learning about its existence while reading about the history of the Los Angeles Times.
This book specifically examines episodes of violence by organized labor against the owning class. I think recent concern over "terrorism" gives this subject heightened interest. The labor movement were "domestic terrorists" way before the term was in vogue.
This book also points to the fondness for violence that lies in the heart of America. America, always violence. Any doubt that a proposensity for violence is "As american as apple pie?" This is a trait that extends from our gun wielding criminals, to our culture taste, to our justice system all the way on up to our deal old President. And mind you, I'm not saying "good" or "bad" about this particular cultural characterstic- it is just fact.
Dynamite! was originally published in 1933 and then republished in 1968. I found a paperback version of the '68 reprint on amazon. It runs about 420 pages. This length is mitigated by the fact that the writing style is "journalistic" and the format of the narrative is anecodtal (I.e. "the next struggle between capital and labor came in 1908 when miners in Wyoming... Etc). Though the language is a tad dated, the journalistic style keeps eveything moving along quickly. Your reference point should be one of those books that is based on a New Yorker article- Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point", for one example.
The other side of the struggle
19 July 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As the old saying goes, "Desperate times call for desperate measures," and there are few times more desperate for a majority of laborers living hand-to-mouth, than being put out of work en masse. Adamic's well-researched, but surprisingly easy-to-read (I read it over a long weekend) book demonstrates the desperate side of the labor struggle which is rarely, if ever, taught in classrooms.
As strikes and "riots" are often portrayed in the media as unprovoked violence against the employers or scab workers, and haphazard destruction of the employers' properties, Adamic will not let the reader ignore that in many (most?) cases, it is the the monopolists and the concentrated Big Business who are directly responsible for the opening salvo (i.e., hired thugs to bust the strikes, agents provocateurs, corrupt politicians, etc.). He also notes that while many attempts at labor organizing were demonized and even prosecuted as illegal interference with commerce, etc., the duplicitous nature of the American legal system often ignored equally heinous interference with commerce when done on behalf of organized Big Business.
Adamic is unabashedly anti-capitalist, so his character descriptions tend to favor the champions of labor, and make the enemies of labor seem characteristically repugnant. That said, he keeps a fairly even keel and is not afraid to highlight labors shortcomings, infightings, especially weak leadership, a "We'll get ours and damn the rest" mentality, failures of the AFL as well as the politicking and racketeering scandals which plagued early labor organizations and it would seem, doomed them for the future.
Although he does not explicitly endorse "dynamite" as a means to achieving labor's goals, I think he is without a doubt sympathetic to its use; at least under certain desperate circumstances the majority of which cannot be blamed on the working classes.
As strikes and "riots" are often portrayed in the media as unprovoked violence against the employers or scab workers, and haphazard destruction of the employers' properties, Adamic will not let the reader ignore that in many (most?) cases, it is the the monopolists and the concentrated Big Business who are directly responsible for the opening salvo (i.e., hired thugs to bust the strikes, agents provocateurs, corrupt politicians, etc.). He also notes that while many attempts at labor organizing were demonized and even prosecuted as illegal interference with commerce, etc., the duplicitous nature of the American legal system often ignored equally heinous interference with commerce when done on behalf of organized Big Business.
Adamic is unabashedly anti-capitalist, so his character descriptions tend to favor the champions of labor, and make the enemies of labor seem characteristically repugnant. That said, he keeps a fairly even keel and is not afraid to highlight labors shortcomings, infightings, especially weak leadership, a "We'll get ours and damn the rest" mentality, failures of the AFL as well as the politicking and racketeering scandals which plagued early labor organizations and it would seem, doomed them for the future.
Although he does not explicitly endorse "dynamite" as a means to achieving labor's goals, I think he is without a doubt sympathetic to its use; at least under certain desperate circumstances the majority of which cannot be blamed on the working classes.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
