Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America [Paperback]

James Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 2007

On May 4, 1886, a bomb exploded at a Chicago labor rally, wounding dozens of policemen, seven of whom eventually died. A wave of mass hysteria swept the country, leading to a sensational trial, that culminated in four controversial executions, and dealt a blow to the labor movement from which it would take decades to recover. Historian James Green recounts the rise of the first great labor movement in the wake of the Civil War and brings to life an epic twenty-year struggle for the eight-hour workday. Blending a gripping narrative, outsized characters and a panoramic portrait of a major social movement, Death in the Haymarket is an important addition to the history of American capitalism and a moving story about the class tensions at the heart of Gilded Age America.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Green thoroughly documents, the bloody Haymarket riot of May 4, 1886, changed the history of American labor and created a panic among Americans about (often foreign-born) "radicals and reformers" and union activists. The Haymarket demonstration, to protest police brutality during labor unrest in Chicago, remained peaceful until police moved in, whereupon a bomb was thrown by an individual never positively identified, killing seven policemen and wounding 60 others. Shortly after, labor leaders August Spies and Albert Parsons, along with six more alleged anarchists, stood convicted of murder on sparse evidence. Four of them went to the gallows in 1887; another committed suicide. The surviving three received pardons in 1893. The Knights of Labor, at that time America's largest and most energetic union, received the blame for the riot, despite a lack of conclusive evidence , and many Knights locals migrated to the less radical American Federation of Labor. Labor historian Green (Taking History to Heart) eloquently chronicles all this, producing what will surely be the definitive word on the Haymarket affair for this generation. Green is particularly strong in documenting the episode's long aftermath, especially the decades-long efforts of the white Parsons's black wife to exonerate her husband. B&w illus. (Mar. 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Green, an academic, offers a narrative history of Chicago's Haymarket bombing in 1886, the infamous trial that followed, and the hanging of subsequently determined innocent men. Chicago was then at the heart of the labor struggle for the eight-hour day, and we learn that "workers' struggles had often been met with shocking repression, and that when violence bred violence, when powerless laboring people struck back in anger, they often paid with their lives." The Haymarket episode became a seminal moment for the American labor movement, and Green takes us inside the personal, social, and cultural elements of this tragic event. Evaluation of Haymarket includes the contention that a conservative bias against radicals, labor organizers, immigrants, and minorities was fundamental to the conflict as well as the view that execution of the anarchists saved the country from anarchy and was a moral and political victory for law and order. The author notes that after Haymarket, social peace among the various classes in Chicago was impossible, and grudges continued for decades. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400033225
• ISBN-13: 978-1400033225
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting work of American Labor History, April 12, 2006

By 

Nathan D. Backlund "blue collar intellectual" (Rio Vista, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America (Hardcover)

This book by James Green is great narrative history about maybe the most important event in the history of the U.S. working class. The characters are well drawn, the context is laid out nicely and the analysis is first rate. It is a sophisticated study without resorting to academic jargon. I normally don't write many reviews, but I had to when I saw that only two had been written so far. I really doubt that a better work of American history will be written this year. James Green is definitely a historian to watch.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written book on a neglected subject, March 20, 2006

By 

Joseph M. Powers (South Bend, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America (Hardcover)

Green recounts an important event in labor history that seems to be better known internationally than in the US. I learned much of the biographies of some interesting figures as well as a realistic portrait of late nineteenth century Chicago. Readers who enjoyed the excellent "Nature's Metropolis" will find this book to be a good counterweight; it spans a similar domain with a different thesis and approach to history. While at times the author overuses phrases (for some reason the term "lumber shover" wore on me), and he shows his sympathy for the labor movement in a less than dispassionate fashion, overall, the author held my interest throughout the book. I especially enjoyed learning of some of the Illinois colleagues of Lincoln and how their careers developed after the Civil War. Lastly, though never explicitly stated, the author's major points regarding dissent, freedom of speech, anarchy, etc., have special resonance in the middle of the present decade. It is interesting to see how our nineteenth century forebears reacted to a set of circumstances that has analogies in today's headlines.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, April 6, 2006

By 

jsiebal (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America (Hardcover)

What a carefully constructed work of love. The author's portrayal of the anarchist, socialist and labor movements in Chicago is riveting. I empathized with the desperation of the activists even as I disagreed with their rhetoric at times. Lucy & Albert Parsons and August Spies appeared to be absolutely dedicated to labor and civil rights activism. What a far-reaching legacy this event left behind.