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The History of Labor in the United States
by J. Albert Mann
You need to work to live. That's the truth for most people, and plenty of people in power have been abusing that truth for centuries.
Long before the first labor unions were formed, workers still knew what exploitation looked like. It looked like the enslavement of Black people. It looked like generations of children dying in dangerous jobs. It looked like wealthy people hiring private militaries to attack their employees.
But workers have always found a way to fight back. Lokono tribespeople resisted Columbus and his colonizers. Enslaved people led walkouts and rebellions. Textile workers demanded a wage that would let them have fun, not just survive. Miners died for the right to unionize. From 30,000 young seamstresses striking in the early 1900s to Uber drivers organizing for change today, people have learned we're stronger when we are united.
Shift Happens is a smart, funny, and engaging look at the history of the worker actions that brought us weekends, pay equality, desegregation, an end to child labor, and so much more.
"The short, engaging chapters keep the narrative moving along at a quick clip, and the conversational tone makes this a compelling reading that celebrates the ways unions have saved lives. Riveting, enlightening, infuriating, and timely: compulsory reading." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Its edgy title may attract attention, but it's the compelling narrative and enlightening content that will keep readers engaged from cover to cover. A recommended read for high school students and educators alike." —School Library Journal (starred review)
"Flippant phrasing is sometimes jarring, and more recent periods are less thoroughly examined than their predecessors. Still, the narrative's laser focus on organizing heroes and essential employees, and the power of unions and striking workers to enact change, results in powerful storytelling. Mann's use of quoted documents and speeches, as well as a comprehensive bibliography, reflects extensive research." —Publishers Weekly
"The AI revolution is here—and Shift Happens is the book young readers absolutely need to understand how to fight back against the people who want to strip-mine their humanity for profit and call it progress." —Martha Brockenbrough
This information about Shift Happens was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
J. Albert Mann is a disability activist and an award-winning author for young people. She has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in writing for children and young adults and is the partner liaison for the WNDB Internship Grant Committee. Her work has won the Massachusetts Book Award Honor, has received a Disability Visibility grant, was named both a Bank Street Best Book and a BCCB Blue Ribbon Book, and was selected for IBBY's Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities. Born and raised in New Jersey, she now lives on a fishing boat in Boston Harbor.
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