Customer Reviews

Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line

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Ben Hamper's outrageous description of life on the car and truck assembly line had me laughing out loud at the antics of both workers and bosses at the GM factory in Flint, Michigan. Hamper uses words like rivets and blasts them at the nearest human target; no one escapes his savage attack, not even himself. Hamper is a "flake" and he knows it, but he is an observant flake who is just as adept at turning a phrase as he is finding ways to avoid work. He seeks to please no one, not even himself, and he succeeds beyond even his expectations. Read at your own risk is how Hamper himself might caution us about "Rivethead."

Ben Hamper shaped this darkly humorous account of his years working on a General Motors truck assembly line with considerable skill. While his engaging prose firmly establishes the mind-numbing, repetitive nature of factory work, he also reveals how he and those around him on the line maintained some level of humanity by using humor and other diversions in their never-ending battle with the clock. Hamper's take on GM's outmoded management techniques and bumbling efforts to maintain market share in the face of global competition during the 1980s (for example, assigning an employee to dress in a cat costume and patrol the factory as a mascot for quality) is especially amusing.

Its not often that I read a book that consistently makes me laugh out loud, but Hamper was able to do so for me with every passing page in Rivethead. I read it for a class assignment, but have re-read it since then, and have also recommended it to others. Its a first-hand account of how one man took the default path in life and followed in his father's footsteps, joining the GM assembly line. Hamper goes through how he came to this profession, and the steps in his life that 'messed up' his aspirations of breaking away from such a path. But more than that, it shows how in American society, we are defined by what we do from 9-5 rather than who we are in our time off work. Hamper subscribes to this belief as a columnist while working on the assemblyline, and although we may not realize it, we may also subscribe to such a belief. Ultimately, the daily grind ends up consuming Hamper, and he is forced to take time away from 'work' and recognize the part of him that exists off the job.

I bought this book on the recommendation of one of my graduate school professors, thinking I would suffer through it. Contrary to my preconceptions that it would be a dull account of factory life, I simply could not put the book down once I started reading it. Hamper's insight into the Greaseball Mecca (GM) assembly plant culture was both entertaining and informative. I started and finished the book in the time span of one weekend and plan to read it again soon. Ben apparently hasn't written another book yet...

I read Rivethead for a course in Michigan History at Central Michigan University. As a prospective history teacher, I plan to use Hamper's book in my high school classes. Hamper describes factory life in a manner that is both brutal and eloquant. This book helped me to understand the daily pains that so many Big Three employees and factory workers in general experience. My respect for these men and women that comprise the backbone of American life as grown expodentialy since reading Hamper's opus.

The book title betrays the story in that it's more tangable and real to the modern day production worker than any other book written in recent times. The characters are ones which we have all seen and met..in fact Homer Simpson would understand this factory. The attempts to improve productivity are desparate as the introduction of 'quality cat'a man hired and dressed up in a tiger outfit is found after some weeks later slumped on the floor smoking a cigarette. Suffice to say the book makes some very important statements on the drive for profit and the effects it has on you me and everyone else.

I read this book the first time when I was a clerk at the Postal Service on the night shift. Apparently GM and the Post Office have a lot in common. I laughed out loud almost through the whole book, often identifying with the subject matter.

Subtitled "Tales From the Assembly Line" this 1991 book is the autobiography of a worker in a General Motors plant during the late 1970s and early 1980s. There's an authenticity to the author's blue collar voice and he sometimes sounds like a stand-up comedian with the intent of keeping me laughing all the way. I loved his sharp tongued way of expressing himself, the words lightning bullets full of irony and wisdom. Ben Hamper is a likeable guy in spite of his alcohol consumption and contempt for authority.

The book took me right into the heart of the factory and a world as foreign to me as that of any exotic country. I learned a lot and laughed out loud, especially when he described the hi-jinks and scams and silly games they all played. There was one part where he described management's idea of increasing production by creating a mascot. I just couldn't stop laughing during that part of the book and I'm still smiling now when I think about it.

Mostly though, I identified with the author in spite of the fact that I've been gently raised and have lived in New York City all my life. Ben Hamper has a gift for writing and this book is testament to that.

Flint, Michigan was going through some changes during those days, as was the entire American auto industry and this book let me feel this through the eyes of someone who worked daily 9-hour shifts at a dirty sweaty job and who was also paid top dollar for his efforts. In this author's case the money went right into an outrageous consumption of alcohol. Eventually though, it did catch up with him.

The automotive industry has changed now. And Ben Hamper is obviously out of a job. But I did discover that he had a website and was still writing columns so his fans can keep up with his clever mind and his unique way of looking at the world.

I was forced to read this book...against my better wishes, my hellish American History professor assigned this book to our class. As I read the title I remembered thinking: "how in the world is an assembly line job interesting enough to read about?" About the only thing I thought the book had going for it was the foreward by Michael Moore. It looked like I was going have to spend another weekend plodding though a boring book when I could have been spending it at the movies or out with my friends. It turned out to be one of the best weekends of my life. The books was hilarious -- It was real, gritty, sharp and wonderfully written. After reading the introduction, I was hooked: I locked myself in my room, unplugged the telephone and didn't put down the book until I was finished. That was ten minutes ago -- now I am online looking to see if he has written any other books...I was disapointed to see that he hasn't. Ben Hamper -- wherever you are -- I have joined the ranks as your loyal fan. Even though you no longer work for GM, I hope you will find another story out there and tell the world about it.

How can you make standing on the assembly line in a GM plant funny? Hamper, who describes himself as, "desended from royality," because his father and grandfather worked in the same plants, makes the dehumanizing process of the line a exceedingly humorous read.
A friend and coworker of Michael Moore (TV Nation) Hamper, brings the frustration of a nowhere career to a funny light. Blue Collaring it, has a sense of hopelessness attached, but with a cynical edge style Hamper delievers a tour-de-force for all working class people to read.