Knocking on Labor’s Door

“Lane Windham takes a fresh look at a phenomenon that many of us thought we understood — the decline of U.S. trade unionism. With meticulous research and graceful prose, she challenges our outworn preconceptions. Her narrative of labor’s recent past deepens our understanding of its present challenges and helps us imagine its future. Rarely have I felt as great an urge to stand up and cheer when reading a work of history as I did while reading this one.” — Joseph A. McCartin, author of Collision Course

“Anyone who cares about work and workers in today’s America should read this book. Overturning myths that are widely believed, Windham arouses both hope and outrage as she makes fresh sense of the staggering rise of inequality since the 1970s.” — Nancy MacLean, author of Freedom Is Not Enough

“This is labor history at its sharp and sparkling best. Windham puts working people on center stage as she resurrects the hard-fought organizing battles of the 1970s. If you want new insight into the origins of unions’ present dilemma and their future, read Knocking on Labor’s Door.” — John Sweeney, President Emeritus, AFL-CIO

“Knocking on Labor’s Door challenges most of what we know about the decline of unions and its consequences. Most importantly, the book leads us to reconsider possibilities for the revival of unions. At a time of renewed concern about economic inequality and the plight of the working class, this is required reading.” — William P. Jones, author of The March on Washington

“Windham is one of those rare academics who has worked professionally as an organizer, and the intellectual advantage that this experience has provided is hard to overstate.”—Gabriel Winant, The Nation

“The book marks yet another superb monograph from a fresh cohort of labor historians who challenge pessimistic narratives of organized labor’s decline with inspiring studies of a diverse array of workers.”—The Journal of Southern History

“Provides sharp insight into the nature and depth of the problems we now face in trying to provide income and health care for the many rather than continuing to funnel society’s wealth to the obscenely rich few who dominate the country and the global economy.”—American Historical Review

“The book does a brilliant job of explaining the USA’s unique industrial relations framework, shaped so much by the NLRB election process and the privatized nature of health care and social security.”—Labour History Project Bulletin