August History Book Club Discussion-"Beaten Down,Worked Up" by Steven Greenhouse

With Labor Day approaching, let's learn a bit more about U.S. Labor History with Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse. Here is what the publisher has to say about the book:

"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. Behind these trends lies a little-discussed problem: the decades-long decline in worker power.

"Award-winning journalist and author Steven Greenhouse guides us through the key episodes and trends in history that are essential to understanding some of our nation’s most pressing problems, including increased income inequality, declining social mobility, and the concentration of political power in the hands of the wealthy few. He exposes the modern labor landscape with the stories of dozens of American workers, from GM employees to Uber drivers to underpaid schoolteachers. Their fight to take power back is crucial for America’s future, and Greenhouse proposes concrete, feasible ways in which workers’ collective power can be—and is being—rekindled and reimagined in the twenty-first century."

Please remember that this is, first and foremost, a book club. Like any local book club, the point is discussion about a shared experience - reading the book! It is not a lecture series. So as usual, get yourself a copy and read it, then join us for another interesting discussion. We will still be operating virtually.

A zoom link to the discussion will be sent a day before the meeting.