Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century

Three renowned historians present stirring tales of labor: Howard Zinn tells the grim tale of the Ludlow Massacre, a drama of beleaguered immigrant workers, Mother Jones, and the politics of corporate power in the age of the robber barons. Dana Frank brings to light the little-known story of a successful sit-in conducted by the "counter girls" at the Detroit Woolworth's during the Great Depression. Robin D. G. Kelley's story of a movie theater musicians' strike in New York asks what defines work in times of changing technology.

"Three Strikes brings to life the heroic men and women who put their jobs, bodies, and lives on the line to win a better life for all working Americans. Zinn, Frank, and Kelley show us that while the country and the union movement have changed greatly in the last hundred years, our struggle to close the divide between rich and poor remains the same." —John Sweeney, president, AFL-CIO

"Provocative analysis of still relevant issues, as the passionate, sometimes violent demonstrations at international meetings of the global economy demonstrate." —Mary Carroll, Booklist

"Highly readable, well-researched narratives of dramatic action" —Leon Fink, Chicago Tribune

Howard Zinn is a teacher, historian, and social activist, and the author of many books, including the best-selling A People's History of the United States and You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (Beacon / 7127-7 / $13.00 pb). He lives near Boston. Dana Frank, professor of American studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is author of the awardwinning Buy American (Beacon / 4711-2 / $17.50 pb). Robin D. G. Kelley, professor of history at New York University, is author of Race Rebels, Yo' Mama's Disfunktional! (Beacon / 0941-5 / $14.00 pb), and Freedom Dreams (Beacon / 0976-8 / $24.00 cl).

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) was a world-renowned historian, author, playwright, and social activist best known for the perennially best-selling classic?A People's History of the United States. His many highly acclaimed books include You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train;?Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor’s Last Century;?and Three Plays—The Political Theater of Howard Zinn: Emma, Marx in Soho, Daughter of Venus.?

Robin D. G. Kelley, a frequent contributor to the New York Times, is an endowed professor of US History at UCLA and the author of Hammer and Hoe;?Race Rebel;?Yo’ Mama’s DisFunktional: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America; Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination;?Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original;?and Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times.?

Dana Frank, author of the award-winning Purchasing Power: Consumer Organizing, Gender, and the Seattle Labor Movement, 1919-1929, is professor of American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her other works include Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism and Local Girl Makes History: Exploring Northern California's Kitsch Monuments. She lives in Santa Cruz.