The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. (Critical Perspectives on the Past) [Paperback]

Lisa M. Fine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004 | Series: Critical Perspectives on the Past

The Reo Motor Car Company operated in Lansing, Michigan, for seventy years, and encouraged its thousands of workers to think of themselves as part of a factory family. Reo workers, most typically white, rural, native-born Protestant men, were dubbed Reo Joes. These ordinary fellows had ordinary aspirations: job security, decent working conditions, and sufficient pay to support a family. They treasured leisure time for family activities (many sponsored by the company), hunting, and their fraternal organizations. Even after joining a union, Reo Joes remained loyal to the company and proud of the community built around it.Lisa M. Fine tells the Reo story from the workers' perspective on the vast social, economic, and political changes that took place in the first three quarters of the twentieth century. Lisa Fine explores their understanding of the city where they lived, the industry that employed them, and the ideas about work, manhood, race, and family that shaped their identities. "The Story of Reo Joe" is, then, a book about historical memory; it challenges us to reconsider what we think we know about corporate welfare, unionization, de-industrialization, and working-class leisure. Lisa M. Fine is Associate Professor of History at Michigan State University. She is the author of "Souls of the Skyscraper: Female Clerical Workers in Chicago, 1870-1930 (Temple)", and coeditor, with Mary Anderson, Kathleen Geissler, and Joyce Ladenson, of "Doing Feminism: Teaching and Research in the Academy".

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lisa Fine's study [is] excellent...The author deftly interweaves the story of the firm and the story of its workers...Any book with enough thick description of the lives of working people that it could credibly be used to sustain multiple interpretations is a scholarly achievement. Even readers who see the story differently from the author will find this a vivid and thought-provoking narrative." The Journal of Social History "Lisa M. Fine has done something both unusual and difficult. She has written a social history of a small-to-medium-sized factory in a small-to-medium-sized Midwestern city...This is the sort of labor history that economic historians will find useful, and interesting...a fine work." EH.net "Lisa M. Fine's book aims to be a different type of labor history, and on all accounts it succeeds...This sweep and scope give the narrative a different flavor and set of findings than other works and brings to the fore elements of working-class history such as whiteness, maleness, and conservatism that are often handled far less empathetically than Fine does here." American Historical Review "labor educators may benefit from [the book] as a way to understand both how the local context impacts worker behavior and political activities. The study of Reo Joe may offer insight into understanding the conservative tendencies of significant segments of the American working class." Labor Studies Journal "Fine presents a well-researched case, and her emphasis on the racial and gender components of worker identity enrich labor history." The Journal of American History "This timely and engaging history of the Reo Motor Car Company represents a valuable contribution to the work of labor historians trying to analyze the phenomenon of conservatism in many working-class communities in the United States. Fine uses oral histories to good effect." Labor History "Fine's admirable case study enriches our social description of American autoworkers, underscores how their sense of manhood shaped and reshaped their lives, and generally enriches our knowledge and understanding of American autoworkers." Michigan Historical Review "Fine traces workers and their relationship to their community, their family, women and their bosses with a combination of scholarship and theories from modern gender history. The result is a work that is readable, occasionally funny, and sensitive and respectful of her subjects." Industrial Worker "Insightful, engaging, and important, The Story of Reo Joe is a terrific book. Fine brings into the spotlight the sort of workers - overwhelmingly white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant male farmers - who played such a pivotal role in industrial history but who, because of their homogeneity, are largely overlooked. Fine's extraordinarily sensitive portrayal of Reo Joe makes us understand and care about the working people of Lansing. [We] see their lives as they saw them, celebrate their victories, and feel their losses." - Kevin Boyle, author of The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968 "This superb social history illuminates the lived experience of class in towns and cities throughout the twentieth-century Midwest. Fine's attention to the bonds of manhood forged in and out of the workplace and to the power of the imagined Reo factory family offers an important new perspective on labor history." - Nancy Gabin, Purdue University

From the Publisher

A collision of history and memory

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592132588
• ISBN-13: 978-1592132584
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,344 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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Is this the book you're looking for?, November 16, 2010

By 

Mike M "MM" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. (Critical Perspectives on the Past) (Paperback)

If you're interested in the socio-economic aspects of how certain segments of the population empowered their masculinity within the familial bonds of the REO factory, this is a well-researched and well-thought out read that will probably bring you some enlightenment.

On the other hand, if you're like me - someone who grew up near the REO factory, who is simply interested in some history, maybe some stories about the factory and geography around it, and the important figures in its history, you may find this a bit droll.

You won't find any mention of the year the railroad spur was built through the factory, or how many trainloads of freight went in or out the doors. You won't learn much about the fire truck accessory factory on the other side of Cedar that took advantage of the location next to the REO factory. (Or was it part of the REO factory? I didn't learn from this book.)

In other words, it's a social studies tome, not a history of Diamond REO. Although I picked up a few interesting tidbits as I read, this did not turn out to be the book I was looking for.

**To be fair, the book is advertised as exactly what it is. There are so few choices when it comes to books about REO, though, that I decided to take a chance on it.