Customer Reviews

Devil's Pact: Inside the World of the Teamsters Union

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Duke Zeller lived in the center of a maelstrom for 14 years. He uses this memoir to settle scores and put out his version of facts that remain in dispute. I'm puzzled about why other reviewers find these aspects of the book off-putting; this is a book written by a partisan, not a dispassionate history. Zeller's observations about the personalities that enlivened the Teamsters Union during his years of service are colorful and, if you filter for his biases, informative. His relationship with Presser was genuine, a fact even his critics concede. His book affords the reader more insight into Jackie Presser the person than anything else I've read on the topic. Presser, for all his flaws, was a charming rogue who managed to play all sides off against each other right up until his death. For the novice at Teamster history, a person could do worse than reading Steven Brill's "The Teamsters," then Zeller's memoir and then Kenneth Crowe's "Collision: How the Rank and File Took Back the Teamsters." While each author has obvious biases and blind spots, reading the three together provides a pretty good primer on Teamster history from James R. Hoffa through James P. Hoffa.

Zeller is also no slouch as a raconteur. In covering his pre-Teamster days, he tells a hilarious story about being chastised by LBJ for bringing Lynda Bird home late from a date back in the days when Zeller was a teenaged Capitol Hill page.

His tales about Presser's gold-digger wife also ring true, although again he makes sure to get his licks in and settle some old scores.

When begining to read this book, one might think that it is a biography of Presser. However, it is more a consideration of the politics of Presser and the politics that came to characterize the Teamsters over the years. The main problem with this approach is that at times the writing seems superficial and soap opera-esque. It can be rather annoying. In the end, the book is good for a leasure read, but not for a scholarly look at labor institutions. Bob Parks Rockhurst College

I found this book to be entirely self-serving to the author's business and personal interests. Famous and powerful people are pictured on the dust jacket, but the story within contains little meat. Zeller spends a lot of time explaining how corrupt and moronic his friends and colleagues were. He describes himself in the midst of the action and playing an important role as a go-between for the Republican Party and corrupt, mafia supported Teamster bosses. His shock and amazement upon becoming the target of a criminal investigation of wrong-doing within the Teamster's Union is incredible. If he took advantage of all the ill-gotten trips, lavish meals and other assorted activities, it is hard to believe he didn't know that he personally was ripping off dues-paying members. In some ways I look at the book as a tragedy. The author is a middle-aged, gay, Republican, corruption tainted flak and seems to be using the book to cash in and try to set himself up for work. To this I attribute the final attack on the new Teamster leadership trying to deal with the sleaze and corruption perpetuated with help from Mr. Zeller