About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherBloomsbury Publishing USA

ISBN-100313324719

ISBN-139780313324710

eBay Product ID (ePID)6018404

Product Key Features

Number of Pages304 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameUnions, Radicals, and Democratic Presidents : Seeking Social Change in the Twentieth Century

SubjectPolitical Ideologies / Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism, Ethics & Moral Philosophy, History & Theory, General, Presidents & Heads of State

Publication Year2003

TypeTextbook

AuthorMartin Halpern

Subject AreaPhilosophy, Political Science, Biography & Autobiography

SeriesContributions in American History Ser.

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight21.3 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceCollege Audience

LCCN2003-046967

Reviews"For students of postwar labor and politics, this book will be a gem: Halpern's judgments are sound, and he is in full command of the facts." The Journal of American History, "For students of postwar labor and politics, this book will be a gem: Halpern's judgments are sound, and he is in full command of the facts."- The Journal of American History, "[T]his study is best suited to reading lists for graduate courses in twentieth-century U.S. labor and radical history. Instructors in relevant courses at both levels will be able to mine the book for useful lecture material beyond the familiar, such as the context and causes of Kennedy's executive order, as well as for what the book itself reveals about left-wing values (including the author's) and historical scholarship in the service of activist progressive ends. Some who teach specifically about the history and dynamics of social movements might organize all or part of a course around Halpern's conceptualization of the necessary conditions for substantial social change and assign students to test it for themselves."- The History Teacher, "Halpern traces the successes and failures of the left/progressive movement in the US during the 20th century....This analysis provides useful insight into the political direction the nation appears to be headed early in the 21st century. Recommended. Academic collections, upper-division undergraduate through faculty." Choice, "[U]nions, Radicals, and Democratic Presidents is recommended for left-leaning readers looking to recall earlier successes and for those readers looking for a detailed look at particularly important developments in twentieth-century labor history."- Michigan Historical Review, "Halpern traces the successes and failures of the left/progressive movement in the US during the 20th century....This analysis provides useful insight into the political direction the nation appears to be headed early in the 21st century. Recommended. Academic collections, upper-division undergraduate through faculty."- Choice, "Martin Halpern's Unions, Radicals, and Democratic Presidents is persuasively written; his overriding theme advocates a peaceful caring society with civil rights and equal opportunities for people regardless of race, gender or sexuality. The book covers strengths and weaknesses in presidential candidate campaigns, the labor movement, the formation of various unions, various improvements to society such as the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Women's Liberation Movement....The book is well researched using newspapers, books, statistical abstracts, interviews, correspondence and conviently referenced at the end of each chapter, as well as containing a comprehensive bibliography....[a]n interesting persuasive book that will be useful to Univeristy students and researchers as an overview of unions and Democratic presidents." 49th Parallel, "[U]nions, Radicals, and Democratic Presidents is recommended for left-leaning readers looking to recall earlier successes and for those readers looking for a detailed look at particularly important developments in twentieth-century labor history." Michigan Historical Review, "[T]his study is best suited to reading lists for graduate courses in twentieth-century U.S. labor and radical history. Instructors in relevant courses at both levels will be able to mine the book for useful lecture material beyond the familiar, such as the context and causes of Kennedy's executive order, as well as for what the book itself reveals about left-wing values (including the author's) and historical scholarship in the service of activist progressive ends. Some who teach specifically about the history and dynamics of social movements might organize all or part of a course around Halpern's conceptualization of the necessary conditions for substantial social change and assign students to test it for themselves." The History Teacher, "Martin Halpern's Unions, Radicals, and Democratic Presidents is persuasively written; his overriding theme advocates a peaceful caring society with civil rights and equal opportunities for people regardless of race, gender or sexuality. The book covers strengths and weaknesses in presidential candidate campaigns, the labor movement, the formation of various unions, various improvements to society such as the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Women's Liberation Movement....The book is well researched using newspapers, books, statistical abstracts, interviews, correspondence and conviently referenced at the end of each chapter, as well as containing a comprehensive bibliography....[a]n interesting persuasive book that will be useful to Univeristy students and researchers as an overview of unions and Democratic presidents."- 49th Parallel, "[U]seful to historians of that subject, both for what it has to say about specific episodes in modern American labor history and, more generally, for what it reveals about how self-described leftists view American politics since the New Deal."- Arkansas Historical Quarterly, "[U]seful to historians of that subject, both for what it has to say about specific episodes in modern American labor history and, more generally, for what it reveals about how self-described leftists view American politics since the New Deal." Arkansas Historical Quarterly

Dewey Edition21

Series Volume NumberVol. 201

Number of Volumes1 vol.

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal331.88/0973/0904

Table Of ContentList of Illustrations and Tables Preface Abbreviations Introduction The Labor Movement: Leader of Social Change or Just Another Interest Group? Children of the Left Sharing Values Across Generations When Henry Met Franklin "I'm Fighting for Freedom" Coleman Young, HUAC, and the Detroit Black Community "From the Top Down or from the Bottom Up?" John F. Kennedy, Executive Order 10988, and the Rise of Public Employee Unionism Jimmy Carter and the UAW Failure of an Alliance Arkansas and the Defeat of Labor Law Reform in 1978 and 1994 The Crisis of the Labor Movement in the United States and the Search for a New Vision in Domestic and Foreign Affairs Gore or Nader? Progressives, Radicals, Labor, and the 2000 Election Conclusion Bibliography

SynopsisSocial change advocates won a remarkable series of victories during the 20th century. This study examines both successful and unsuccessful efforts, ranging from the women's suffrage movement of the 1910s to the divisive debate between Gore and Nader supporters during the 2000 election. Halpern details the ingredients essential to shaping progressive campaigns. While left-wing activists sustained grass roots movements and worked with allies in left-center coalitions, trade unions energized by progressive activists gave the efforts institutional weight with crucial assistance from Democratic presidents committed to liberalism. Frequently facing repression, left-wingers nevertheless managed to pass their values on to their children, who in turn sustained new sets of social movements. Leftists worked alongside other progressives to form left-center coalitions on issues such as Civil Rights and labor law reform. Influenced by liberalism, Roosevelt, Johnson, and Kennedy gave crucial assistance to the social change process. Shying away from liberalism, Carter and Clinton and Vice President Gore failed to provide comparable assistance, disappointing progressive activists and unions and leading to important setbacks. Whether the Democratic Party will once again seek to elect a president with a liberal vision to assist a revitalized labor movement, a newly energized left, and left-center coalitions in the social change process remains to be seen.

LC Classification NumberHD6508