When I was in high school I had a great history teacher. When I took his class he'd pass out the text books and tell us to toss them in the bottom of our lockers. For the next nine months he stood at a podium and taught us the history of the United States like it was oral tradition. In that class, he took me from the Revolutionary War though Watergate. This book, Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class has his voice.
Stayin' Alive took me from the late 60s though the topsy turvy decade of the 70s, and shows a laser like focus on the working class. It's a rounding criticism of polices that destroyed unions, the unions themselves, and how it all happened. It also won the 2010 Merle Curti Prize from the The Organization of American Historians.
With that being said, this isn't a light summer read by any means. It drove me to Wikipedia more than once trying to jog the memory of things like remembering who George McGovern's campaign manager was (Gary Heart), and reminding myself of President Nixon's Labor Secretary (George P. Shultz).* I absolutely love doing this, but if researching while reading isn't your thing, you may not want to pick it up. However, if it IS your thing read this book. Read it now. You'll notice parallels between what happened in the 70s and what is happening now in the labor movement.
When I finished this book I had a twinge of sadness. This part of history may be missed entirely in high school and college classes. When teachers and professors only have nine months to cover a broad spectrum of history this story often gets cut out.
Now I'm going to switch gears entirely for my next book. After reading a complex history of the working class and labor movements in the 70s I deserve something with vampires in it. I've decided it's time for me to read, Let the Right One In. I picked this partly because it's a reward and partly because it's the basis of one of the best vampire movies I've seen in the last 5 years. If you haven't, please rent it. Also, it's available as a Watch Instant on Netflix, so you don't even have to wait for it to come in the mail.
* I just gave you the answers to two Trivial Pursuit questions. You're welcome.
Stayin' Alive took me from the late 60s though the topsy turvy decade of the 70s, and shows a laser like focus on the working class. It's a rounding criticism of polices that destroyed unions, the unions themselves, and how it all happened. It also won the 2010 Merle Curti Prize from the The Organization of American Historians.
With that being said, this isn't a light summer read by any means. It drove me to Wikipedia more than once trying to jog the memory of things like remembering who George McGovern's campaign manager was (Gary Heart), and reminding myself of President Nixon's Labor Secretary (George P. Shultz).* I absolutely love doing this, but if researching while reading isn't your thing, you may not want to pick it up. However, if it IS your thing read this book. Read it now. You'll notice parallels between what happened in the 70s and what is happening now in the labor movement.
When I finished this book I had a twinge of sadness. This part of history may be missed entirely in high school and college classes. When teachers and professors only have nine months to cover a broad spectrum of history this story often gets cut out.
Now I'm going to switch gears entirely for my next book. After reading a complex history of the working class and labor movements in the 70s I deserve something with vampires in it. I've decided it's time for me to read, Let the Right One In. I picked this partly because it's a reward and partly because it's the basis of one of the best vampire movies I've seen in the last 5 years. If you haven't, please rent it. Also, it's available as a Watch Instant on Netflix, so you don't even have to wait for it to come in the mail.
* I just gave you the answers to two Trivial Pursuit questions. You're welcome.
I watched "Let the Right One In" and love it. I think they just recently made it to an English version where you don't have to read the subtitles.
ReplyDeleteLet the Right One In was fantastic. Beautiful atmospheric horror movie. I wish more people would watch it.
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