Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane's long-awaited eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a nation caught at the crossroads between past and future. Filled with a cast of unforgettable characters more richly drawn than any Lehane has ever created, The Given Day tells the story of two families—one black, one white—swept... (more)

Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line

by Ben Hamper

A former "shoprat" in a Michigan auto plant offers a gritty account of life in the world of manufacturing, on and off the assembly line. Reprint. NYT. PW.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

by Doreen Cronin

Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type. All day long he hears Click, clack, MOO. Click, clack, MOO. Clickety, clack, MOO. But Farmer Brown's problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes.... Doreen Cronin's understated text and Betsy Lewin's expressive illustrations make the most of this hilarious situation. Come join the fun as a bunch of literate cows turn Farmer... (more)

Dear America

A Coal Miner's Bride

The Diary of Anetka Kaminska

by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

A diary account of thirteen-year-old Anetka's life in Poland in 1896, immigration to America, marriage to a coal miner, widowhood, and happiness in finally finding her true love.

El Lector

by William Durbin

Thirteen-year-old Bella wants to be a lector just like her grandfather. All day long he sits on a special platform in the cigar factory in Ybor City, Florida, reading books, newspapers, and current events to workers as they roll the cigars. Lectors have always been highly respected members of their Cuban American community. But now times are changing. When the factory workers clash with the owners, violence erupts... (more)

A History of American Labor

by Joseph G. Rayback

paperback copy, 491 pages

Sometimes a Great Notion (Penguin Classics)

Sometimes a Great Notion (Penguin Classics)

by Ken Kesey

The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Following the astonishing success of his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , Ken Kesey wrote what Charles Bowden calls "one of the few essential books written by an American in the last half century." This wild-spirited tale tells of a bitter strike that rages through a small lumber town along the... (more)

Son of the Mob : Hollywood Hustle

by Gordon Korman

When mafia prince Vince Luca heads out to start college in sunny L.A., he’s relieved to be finally leaving his shady family and their illegal antics behind. Upon his arrival, Vince is paired up with the son of a prominent congressman as a roommate––finally, some respectability! Not to mention that the girls in college are beyond tempting. With his girlfriend, Kendra, giving him such a hard time, Vince is beginning... (more)

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

by Anna Maria Hong, Upton Sinclair

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP Upton Sinclair's unflinching chronicle of crushing poverty and oppression set in Chicago in the early 1900s. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: • A concise introduction that gives readers important background information • A chronology of the author's life and work • A timeline of significant events that provides the book's... (more)

The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Remade American Business, Transformed Global Trade, and Put Politics in Every Store

The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Remade American Business, Transformed Global Trade, and Put Politics in Every Store

by Nelson Lichtenstein

The definitive account of how a small Ozarks company upended the world of business and what that change means Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company, roared out of the rural South to change the way business is done. Deploying computer-age technology, Reagan-era politics, and Protestant evangelism, Sam Walton’s firm became a byword for cheap goods and low-paid workers, famed for the ruthless efficiency of its... (more)

NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education

by Samuel L. Blumenfeld

DYNAMITE: THE STORY OF CLASS VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

by Agatha Christie

Where is Jane Finn? The mere mention of her name produced a very strange reaction all over London. So strange, in fact, that Tommy and Tuppence deceided to find this mysterious missing lady. And once those two determine sleuths made up their minds, nothing could stop them -- not international espionage, kidnapping...or even murder.

Can Germany Be Saved?: The Malaise of the World's First Welfare State

Can Germany Be Saved?: The Malaise of the World's First Welfare State

by Hans-Werner Sinn

Winner of the 2003 getAbstract/Financial Times Germany Business Book Award. What has happened to the German economic miracle? Rebuilding from the rubble and ruin of two world wars, Germany in the second half of the twentieth century recaptured its economic strength. High-quality German-made products ranging from precision tools to automobiles again conquered world markets, and the country experienced... (more)

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Code Red)

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Code Red)

by Jacqueline Dembar Greene

This offering from the Code Red series recounts the March 25, 1911, fire that destroyed a New York City clothing manufacturer,^B killing 146 people, most of them young female garment workers. Using a narrative style, Greene explains how the fire started, why so many workers had trouble getting out of the building, and how the blaze was finally brought under control. She also touches on the protests that followed... (more)

Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics (Unabridged)

Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics (Unabridged)

by Linda Chavez

The leftist labor unions have the Democrats in their pockets. And we’re all paying the price. In this explosive book, Linda Chavez and fellow union expert Daniel Gray expose Big Labor’s corrupt bargain with the Democratic Party—a dirty setup the Democrats don’t want you to know about. All of us foot the bill for this system—now it’s up to us to do something about it.

The Big Red Songbook: 250-Plus IWW Songs

The Big Red Songbook: 250-Plus IWW Songs

by Utah Phillips

This is indeed an incredible endeavor. For sure the most comprehensive collection of rebel workers songs and poems ever compiled in English. It includes ALL the songs that appeared in the IWW s celebrated "little red songbook" from 1909 through 1973, plus dozens of others that never made it into the songbook. Here are the songs of Joe Hill, T-Bone Slim, Dick Brazier, Ralph Chaplin, Covington Hall and other Wobbly... (more)

Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America

Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America

by Dana Frank

"I want to learn how to defend myself from whoever tries to oppress me, whether it's my husband, my union, or my boss."-a bananera Women banana workers- bananeras -are waging a powerful revolution by making gender equity central in Latin American labor organizing. Their successes disrupt the popular image of the Latin American woman worker as a passive bystander and broadly re-imagine the possibilities of... (more)

The Disinherited

by Jack Conroy

For the Love of Mike (A Molly Murphy Mystery)

For the Love of Mike (A Molly Murphy Mystery)

by Rhys Bowen

A woman ahead of her time, Molly Murphy is determined to be a private detective. Having inherited the cases of her deceased mentor, Paddy Reilly, she's following philandering husbands, tracking down a runaway Dublin debutante, and working in a sweatshop to discover who's purloining dress designs. None of her jobs seem dangerous...at first. When a woman's body is fished out of the East River, Molly fears it's the... (more)

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Tags: unions

by Dennis Lehane