Beaten Down, Worked Up

Book cover of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor

Book description

“A page-turning book that spans a century of worker strikes.... Engrossing, character-driven, panoramic.” —The New York Times Book Review

We live in an era of soaring corporate profits and anemic wage gains, one in which low-paid jobs and blighted blue-collar communities have become a common feature of our nation’s landscape.…

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Labor unions

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Beaten Down, Worked Up as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Hamilton Nolan

Author

Steven Greenhouse, who spent decades as The New York Times' labor reporter, writes as good a survey of the state of the present-day labor movement as you can find anywhere.

Uber drivers, health care workers, auto workers, and more, this is a book for anyone who wonders where union power stands, how it’s gotten here, and who the players are who are trying to revive unions for a new century.

From Hamilton's list on the power of the American labor movement.

David Buckmaster

Author

Greenhouse’s accounting of union history shares endlessly fascinating stories that could inspire 1,000 Netflix series, but most of us (myself included) know nothing of them. This book is not a pro-union polemic and even for those with a strong skepticism or distaste for unions, we should all understand the history of labor rights and appreciate how many of the things we take for granted now, like overtime pay and weekends, came at very real sacrifice and loss of life rather than through corporate benevolence.

From David's list on the importance of expecting less from your workplace.