All That Glitters: Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek (Working Class in American History) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Jameson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0252066901 | ISBN-13: 978-0252066900 | Publication Date: March 1, 1998 | Edition: First edition/Full number line

At the turn of the century, Colorado's Cripple Creek District captured the national imagination with the extraordinary wealth of its gold mines and the unquestionable strength of the militant Western Federation of Miners. In All That Glitters, Elizabeth Jameson tells the better-than-fiction story of Cripple Creek, the scene in 1894 of one of radical labor's most stunning victories and in 1903-4 of one of its most crushing defeats. Jameson's sources include working-class oral histories, the Victor and Cripple Creek Daily Press, published by thirty-four of the local labor unions, and the 1900 manuscript census. She connects unions with lodges and fraternal associations, ethnic identity, families, households, and partisan politics. Through these ties, she probes the differences in age, skill, gender, marital status, and ethnicity that strained working-class unity and contributed to the fall of labor in Cripple Creek. Jameson's book will be required reading for western, ethnic, and working-class historians seeking an alternative interpretation of western mining struggles that emphasizes class, gender, and multiple sources of social identity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Combines the sophisticated methods of the new social history to explore organized labor and labor politics within the context of a community study... A thoroughly brilliant portrait of Cripple Creek that replaces earlier studies." -- M. L. Dolan, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; First edition/Full number line edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252066901
• ISBN-13: 978-0252066900
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Contempory History, A Century Past, April 7, 2011

By 

Ross Connelly - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: All That Glitters: Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek (Working Class in American History) (Paperback)

A book about the history of the Cripple Creek gold mining district's labor wars in Colorado of 100 years ago offers a decidedly contemporary mood amidst the efforts to crush labor unions that runs strong in these times in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and elsewhere.

The book is exceedingly well researched and, although well written, a bit dry. Keep reading, though, as Elizabeth Jameson dug deep into the data - both census, newspaper accounts, personal recollections and other studies. The book is also significant as it addresses issues of racial and ethnic discrimination within the mining communities and offers insights into the roles of women. She presents a very important study of labor history that is often ignored or whitewashed.