When the State Trembled: How A. J. Andrews and the Citizens' Committee Broke the Winnipeg General Strike

'When the State Trembled is truly a landmark study in Canadian working-class history, but it is even more than that - it is a deeply revealing analysis of the inner workings of a Canadian social and political order responding to its acute post-1918 crisis. With profound scholarship, broad-ranging theorizing, an unrivalled command of the primary sources, and sharp eyes for the telling detail and the illuminating story, Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell present a completely new Interpretation of the Winnipeg General Strike. They show how one brilliant reactionary could call upon long-standing traditions of the "private" and the "public," the "citizen" and the "alien," the "propertied" and the "disordered" to craft a deadly and effective response to Canada's post-1918 democratic revolution. This new interpretation of Winnipeg 1919 will be debated across the country - and the result will be not just a new understanding of the famous Strike but of Canada as a liberal order.'-Ian McKay, Department of History, Queen's University

'When the State Trembled is a masterful, riveting, and fresh account of the Winnipeg General Strike that emphasizes the role of Winnipeg's legal and business elite who not only mobilized the state but also assumed its mantle to defeat the strike and punish its leaders. At a time when perceived threats to national security are being used to justify restrictions on our civil Liberties, this book could not be timelier.'-Eric Tucker, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University

The Canadian Social History Series is devoted to in-depth studies of major themes in our history, exploring neglected areas in the day-to-day existence of Canadians. The emphasis of this innovative series is on increasing the general appreciation of our past and opening up new areas of study for students and scholars. The editor of the series is Gregory S. Kealey, Professor of History and Vice-President (Research), University of New Brunswick. A leading historian of the Canadian working class, Dr Kealey was the founding editor of Labour/Le Travail.