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The Harbor
Ernest Poole's bestselling, muckraking classic about the plight of the worker.
The best-known novel by the winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Ernet Poole's The Harbor was published in 1915 to instant acclaim and remains his most important book. At the heart of the story is Billy, an aspiring writer who struggles to reconcile his sympathy for workers with his middle-class allegiance to capitalist progress. As Billy comes of age on the New York waterfront, an eyewitness to explosive tensions between labor and capital that culminate in a violent strike, he learns to embrace socialism as the solution to the harbor's seething injustices. This novel, one of the most direct literary treatments of class warfare, is a valuable social history and a powerful testament to Poole's legendary talent.
The best-known novel by the winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Ernet Poole's The Harbor was published in 1915 to instant acclaim and remains his most important book. At the heart of the story is Billy, an aspiring writer who struggles to reconcile his sympathy for workers with his middle-class allegiance to capitalist progress. As Billy comes of age on the New York waterfront, an eyewitness to explosive tensions between labor and capital that culminate in a violent strike, he learns to embrace socialism as the solution to the harbor's seething injustices. This novel, one of the most direct literary treatments of class warfare, is a valuable social history and a powerful testament to Poole's legendary talent.
281 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1915
21 people are currently reading
314 people want to read
About the author
Ernest Poole
90 books16 followersErnest Poole graduated from Princeton University in 1902. He worked as a journalist and was active in promoting social reforms including the ending of child labor He was a correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post in Europe before and during World War I.
His novel The Harbor (1915) is the work for which he is known best.It is set largely among the proletariat of the industrial Brooklyn waterfront, and is sympathetic with socialism. It is considered one of the first American fictional works to present a positive opinion of trade unions.
Poole was the first recipient for the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918 with his novel, His Family.
He died in Manhattan, New York on January 10, 1950.
His novel The Harbor (1915) is the work for which he is known best.It is set largely among the proletariat of the industrial Brooklyn waterfront, and is sympathetic with socialism. It is considered one of the first American fictional works to present a positive opinion of trade unions.
Poole was the first recipient for the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918 with his novel, His Family.
He died in Manhattan, New York on January 10, 1950.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 17, 2012
I ran across a review of The Harbor that said it was one of the few accessible novels of protest fiction, up there with the Grapes of Wrath. Tying it to my second favorite Steinbeck novel was a good reason for me to grab this book. [In Dubious Battle is my favorite Steinbeck work.] The Harbor is a long book, coming in at almost 400 pages on my Kindle, but it is worth the effort, and the flow is effortless.
The book chronicles the life of the narrator, Bill, who grew up in Brooklyn, overlooking the New York harbor. His curiosity, fear, love, admiration and hate of the harbor over his lifetime is the main anchor of the novel. His college friend, Joe Kramer, pops in and out of his life, acting almost as his conscience to remind him to look beyond the surface. A socialist message of workers uniting to own their destinies and profit from their own labor is a strong theme. I thought at times the book might be a bit preachy, although the author was preaching to the choir for me. But right after I thought that, I felt the story was good and I wasn't being beaten over the head with his thoughts. I found Steinbeck's "In Dubious Battle" a better strike novel, with characters being more fully developed, but then again, Steinbeck wrote that in 1936, not 1915. Poole captures the mood of the workers, the poor and the environments they live and work in.
While reading The Harbor, you first have to get past the sexist point of view, which was par for the course when this book was published in 1915. The women characters aren't fully developed and are flighty and impuslive, or simply follow their men. The main character's wife is a little better, but her strength as a character is mostly from her adopting an assertive yet still traditional female role. After that, you have to get through some racist language about non-white dock workers. However, racist ideology is challenged by the characters themselves, who urge, and succeed, in aligning people by class rather than constructed ideas of race or ethnicity. So while the terms are used, the essence of racism among the working class is vocally called out as a dividing force and not worthy of the workers and their struggle for rights. Having said that, though, I must note that the workers who are on strike get past these racial barriers far too easily and quickly. It would have been the hope of the author that they would, but in reality, it seems like some would transcend the hate but others would need more time to process it.
When Bill talks about his friend Joe Kramer at one point, he says: "And when the term 'muckraker’ came into use, I remember his deep satisfaction. 'Now I know my name.'" (p. 63). When Joe talks about the workers in the harbor, he says that they're not looking for a leader or a vanguard. Bill asks “And you think you can build a new world with them?" to which Joe replies, "No– I think they can do it themselves.” (p. 245).
These workers are the ones who bear the brunt of war and peace, an important theme for the novel as it was written at the start of and during World War I. Joe says, "I know they do all the real work in the world. They’re the ones who get all the rotten deals, the ones who get shot down in wars and worked like dogs in time of peace.” (p. 291). Just as we question our leaders today, Joe questioned them back then: "Why is it that we are at war? What good is all this blood to us? Is it to make our toil any lighter, life any brighter in our homes–or are we sent out by our rulers to die only in order that they in their scramble might take more of the earth for themselves?” (p. 382)
Jim Marsh, the labor figure who comes to town to lead the harbor strike, has a great comment about the flaws of our media and the general population's attention focus. When speaking of a ship that sunk two miles out in the Atlantic, Marsh says that there was plenty of uproar about the women who died on the ship due to a lack of lifeboats. He goes on, “But we haven’t heard much of the cries for help of the thousands of men who go down every year in rotten old ships upon the seas! Nor have we heard of the millions more who are killed on land– on the railroads, in the mines and mills and stinking slums of cities.” (p. 325)
Just writing this review made me change my rating to five stars. I thought it would be a four star book, but it has great themes and it was a pleasure to read. I heartily recommend picking up this book.
The book chronicles the life of the narrator, Bill, who grew up in Brooklyn, overlooking the New York harbor. His curiosity, fear, love, admiration and hate of the harbor over his lifetime is the main anchor of the novel. His college friend, Joe Kramer, pops in and out of his life, acting almost as his conscience to remind him to look beyond the surface. A socialist message of workers uniting to own their destinies and profit from their own labor is a strong theme. I thought at times the book might be a bit preachy, although the author was preaching to the choir for me. But right after I thought that, I felt the story was good and I wasn't being beaten over the head with his thoughts. I found Steinbeck's "In Dubious Battle" a better strike novel, with characters being more fully developed, but then again, Steinbeck wrote that in 1936, not 1915. Poole captures the mood of the workers, the poor and the environments they live and work in.
While reading The Harbor, you first have to get past the sexist point of view, which was par for the course when this book was published in 1915. The women characters aren't fully developed and are flighty and impuslive, or simply follow their men. The main character's wife is a little better, but her strength as a character is mostly from her adopting an assertive yet still traditional female role. After that, you have to get through some racist language about non-white dock workers. However, racist ideology is challenged by the characters themselves, who urge, and succeed, in aligning people by class rather than constructed ideas of race or ethnicity. So while the terms are used, the essence of racism among the working class is vocally called out as a dividing force and not worthy of the workers and their struggle for rights. Having said that, though, I must note that the workers who are on strike get past these racial barriers far too easily and quickly. It would have been the hope of the author that they would, but in reality, it seems like some would transcend the hate but others would need more time to process it.
When Bill talks about his friend Joe Kramer at one point, he says: "And when the term 'muckraker’ came into use, I remember his deep satisfaction. 'Now I know my name.'" (p. 63). When Joe talks about the workers in the harbor, he says that they're not looking for a leader or a vanguard. Bill asks “And you think you can build a new world with them?" to which Joe replies, "No– I think they can do it themselves.” (p. 245).
These workers are the ones who bear the brunt of war and peace, an important theme for the novel as it was written at the start of and during World War I. Joe says, "I know they do all the real work in the world. They’re the ones who get all the rotten deals, the ones who get shot down in wars and worked like dogs in time of peace.” (p. 291). Just as we question our leaders today, Joe questioned them back then: "Why is it that we are at war? What good is all this blood to us? Is it to make our toil any lighter, life any brighter in our homes–or are we sent out by our rulers to die only in order that they in their scramble might take more of the earth for themselves?” (p. 382)
Jim Marsh, the labor figure who comes to town to lead the harbor strike, has a great comment about the flaws of our media and the general population's attention focus. When speaking of a ship that sunk two miles out in the Atlantic, Marsh says that there was plenty of uproar about the women who died on the ship due to a lack of lifeboats. He goes on, “But we haven’t heard much of the cries for help of the thousands of men who go down every year in rotten old ships upon the seas! Nor have we heard of the millions more who are killed on land– on the railroads, in the mines and mills and stinking slums of cities.” (p. 325)
Just writing this review made me change my rating to five stars. I thought it would be a four star book, but it has great themes and it was a pleasure to read. I heartily recommend picking up this book.
September 9, 2018
The Harbor was labeled a "socialist novel," a label I think may have been most accurate upon the book's release in 1915. Today, with society's acceptance of labor unions and with unions' coexistence with standard employment practices in the U.S., perhaps the book is better thought of as a general "collectivist novel." The book is an artistically interesting description of the beginnings of such labor strife at the start of the 20th century.
Billy's nature as a dynamic character stuck out to me the most, especially when put beside every other character of the story. Part 1 is a beautiful, Romantic depiction of childhood at the start of industrialized America. The narrator sets up a worldview of "black and whites"––people and places can be seen as masculine or feminine, the harbor is either beautiful (a position he personally takes) or disgusting (to others). In short, he builds a system of expectations about people and places, through child-like observation. Part 2 is devoted to his development as a young man studying and working in Paris, France. Traditional, gendered views about certain activities (poetry, visual art, etc.) are thrown aside, as Billy realizes his calling as writer and as a humanist. Part 3 introduces the character of Dillon, his eventual father-in-law. Dillon is a believer in the capitalist marketplace and in the role of industry and wealth in society. His views rub off on Billy, who begins to write feature stories about famous men of Wall Street (and becomes quite successful). With the re-arrival of Kramer, Billy "goes back to his roots" to observe the working conditions at the harbor. He is horrified, as anyone would be, to see both treacherous conditions and (essentially) modern-day slavery. As a reporter, he experiences a full labor strike and the energy of collectivism. Throughout each of these parts, Billy is going back-and-forth, constantly questioning whether he is in line with the right ideals; who is more correct, Dillon (the urban developer who is planning for growth in infrastructure) or Kramer (the impoverished idealist who sees every historical moment as a class struggle)? Billy is certainly not an unreliable narrator, but simply someone whose dichotomous experiences create a shaky foundation for objective beliefs. In Part 4, we get a final reflection and an eventual commitment (with the prodding of Eleanore) to be a writer/reporter of both marginalized communities and middle-upper class constituencies.
I found the female characters to be most striking in the book. Since Billy's childhood perceptions of gender dynamics make it seem like Ernest Poole is simply describing the times, I found it very interesting that, later in the book, the author subverts those very constructions by consistently using the female characters to guide the men. Eleanore encourages Billy to experience the harbor at its worst, she makes financial decisions at the end of the book that help benefit Billy, she acts as a moral guide when dealing with hers and Billy's family members. Instead of Billy's constant self-questioning of where he stands on a given issues, Eleanore's open mind enables her to take the stance of "experience it all; conclusions are often premature." A very minor character at the end of the novel seems to corroborate this position to Billy, simultaneously shifting the specifics of this story to universal truths:
My main qualm with the work is more the result of the literary time we're currently in, 103 years after the publication of The Harbor. Throughout the book, it's clear Poole wanted the harbor to be a character in itself. To do this, he began with Billy's first memory of the harbor–a famous preacher speaking about the "harbor of life." From there, the plot progresses so linearly and so large in scope. While this approach certainly makes the harbor into as dynamic a character as Billy, I'm not sure breaking the book into four large sections (in which the narrator's view of the harbor is shifted) is needed to mark particular points in Billy's "coming of age." The result is a somewhat bloated, post-Victorian text (though it is, indeed, consistently beautiful writing) that, in hindsight, simply demonstrates the progression of American literary trends since the early 20th century.
Billy's nature as a dynamic character stuck out to me the most, especially when put beside every other character of the story. Part 1 is a beautiful, Romantic depiction of childhood at the start of industrialized America. The narrator sets up a worldview of "black and whites"––people and places can be seen as masculine or feminine, the harbor is either beautiful (a position he personally takes) or disgusting (to others). In short, he builds a system of expectations about people and places, through child-like observation. Part 2 is devoted to his development as a young man studying and working in Paris, France. Traditional, gendered views about certain activities (poetry, visual art, etc.) are thrown aside, as Billy realizes his calling as writer and as a humanist. Part 3 introduces the character of Dillon, his eventual father-in-law. Dillon is a believer in the capitalist marketplace and in the role of industry and wealth in society. His views rub off on Billy, who begins to write feature stories about famous men of Wall Street (and becomes quite successful). With the re-arrival of Kramer, Billy "goes back to his roots" to observe the working conditions at the harbor. He is horrified, as anyone would be, to see both treacherous conditions and (essentially) modern-day slavery. As a reporter, he experiences a full labor strike and the energy of collectivism. Throughout each of these parts, Billy is going back-and-forth, constantly questioning whether he is in line with the right ideals; who is more correct, Dillon (the urban developer who is planning for growth in infrastructure) or Kramer (the impoverished idealist who sees every historical moment as a class struggle)? Billy is certainly not an unreliable narrator, but simply someone whose dichotomous experiences create a shaky foundation for objective beliefs. In Part 4, we get a final reflection and an eventual commitment (with the prodding of Eleanore) to be a writer/reporter of both marginalized communities and middle-upper class constituencies.
I found the female characters to be most striking in the book. Since Billy's childhood perceptions of gender dynamics make it seem like Ernest Poole is simply describing the times, I found it very interesting that, later in the book, the author subverts those very constructions by consistently using the female characters to guide the men. Eleanore encourages Billy to experience the harbor at its worst, she makes financial decisions at the end of the book that help benefit Billy, she acts as a moral guide when dealing with hers and Billy's family members. Instead of Billy's constant self-questioning of where he stands on a given issues, Eleanore's open mind enables her to take the stance of "experience it all; conclusions are often premature." A very minor character at the end of the novel seems to corroborate this position to Billy, simultaneously shifting the specifics of this story to universal truths:
"Life is growth and growth is change. I believe the age we live in is changing so much faster than any age before it, that a man if he's to be vital at all must give up the idea of any fixed creed–in his office, his church or his home–that if he does not, he will only wear himself out butting his indignant head against what is stronger and probably better than he. But if he does hold himself open to change and knows that change is his very life, then he can get a serenity which is as much better than that of the monk as living is better than dying."
My main qualm with the work is more the result of the literary time we're currently in, 103 years after the publication of The Harbor. Throughout the book, it's clear Poole wanted the harbor to be a character in itself. To do this, he began with Billy's first memory of the harbor–a famous preacher speaking about the "harbor of life." From there, the plot progresses so linearly and so large in scope. While this approach certainly makes the harbor into as dynamic a character as Billy, I'm not sure breaking the book into four large sections (in which the narrator's view of the harbor is shifted) is needed to mark particular points in Billy's "coming of age." The result is a somewhat bloated, post-Victorian text (though it is, indeed, consistently beautiful writing) that, in hindsight, simply demonstrates the progression of American literary trends since the early 20th century.
January 5, 2009
“The Harbor” is Ernest Poole’s best known work, although his later work, “His Family”, would be the first novel to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1918. “The Harbor was published in 1915, and the novel is among the first, if not the first, to present labor unions in a positive light. Though certainly a gritty novel for its time, I would not doubt that many readers today might find it rather tame. Ernest Poole clearly had sympathy for socialist causes, and this can be found in much of his work.
The novel is written from the perspective of a writer (Bill) as he experiences his life on the Brooklyn waterfront, from his boyhood through the great strike which has such a large effect on his perspective. Many of the brief descriptions of this novel focus on the union aspect of the story, which is certainly important, but I think there is more to the novel than just that. The novel has four books in it, and the union aspect does not appear until the third section, although certainly some of the groundwork is laid before that.
The first book deals with Bill’s childhood and his growing up by the harbor. The harbor goes from being an area of mystery and curiosity, to one of fear, and eventually hatred. Bill escapes the area by traveling to Europe, thanks to his mother who insists that he be allowed to do so. This section also introduces almost all the important characters in the novel. We have Bill, his mother, his father, his sister Sue, and her friend Eleanore. We also have the introduction of Joe Kramer, who plays a key role in Bill’s life, often forcing him to deal with situations and issues which otherwise he might rather ignore.
The second book sees Bill return to the Harbor. Here he is forced to deal with his father’s desire to have him help with his business, as well as the changes which take place there. He is also reintroduced to Eleanore, who helps change his feelings for the Harbor from one of hate, to that of ambition, and happiness. Eleanore’s father introduces him to his “new god”, efficiency, and the dream of a better future for the harbor. It is also in this section where Bill starts his career as a writer, using the harbor as the backdrop for his stories.
The third section jumps a little forward in Bill’s life, and we find Bill still writing about the Harbor, from the point of view of efficiency. Joe continues to challenge Bill, and this time it is with respect to the condition of labor. We see in this section Bill’s attitude change towards the coming conflict between labor and capitol as he is torn between Joe and Eleanore’s father. In many ways Bill’s position towards the labor movement parallels the changes in his perception of the harbor earlier in the book. As a writer he starts out curious, he then becomes somewhat disdainful, and then moves to support for the cause.
The fourth book is the shortest of the novel, and serves to close out the story of Bill’s life so far, and gives an indication of where he is going. While there is little doubt that Ernest Poole supported the cause of labor, I think it is fair to say that he offered a reasonable look at the issue in this book. He doesn’t deny the idealism of those on the side of business and their ultimate goals, but he clearly doesn’t believe they are likely to be achieved. At the same time, while he does support the cause of labor, he does not ignore the ugly side of the movement.
This is an interesting book, although there are probably some people who would find it a bit slow moving. I enjoyed it, and I think it provides an interesting look at social concerns and the difference in societal classes which existed in the early 20th century in New York.
The novel is written from the perspective of a writer (Bill) as he experiences his life on the Brooklyn waterfront, from his boyhood through the great strike which has such a large effect on his perspective. Many of the brief descriptions of this novel focus on the union aspect of the story, which is certainly important, but I think there is more to the novel than just that. The novel has four books in it, and the union aspect does not appear until the third section, although certainly some of the groundwork is laid before that.
The first book deals with Bill’s childhood and his growing up by the harbor. The harbor goes from being an area of mystery and curiosity, to one of fear, and eventually hatred. Bill escapes the area by traveling to Europe, thanks to his mother who insists that he be allowed to do so. This section also introduces almost all the important characters in the novel. We have Bill, his mother, his father, his sister Sue, and her friend Eleanore. We also have the introduction of Joe Kramer, who plays a key role in Bill’s life, often forcing him to deal with situations and issues which otherwise he might rather ignore.
The second book sees Bill return to the Harbor. Here he is forced to deal with his father’s desire to have him help with his business, as well as the changes which take place there. He is also reintroduced to Eleanore, who helps change his feelings for the Harbor from one of hate, to that of ambition, and happiness. Eleanore’s father introduces him to his “new god”, efficiency, and the dream of a better future for the harbor. It is also in this section where Bill starts his career as a writer, using the harbor as the backdrop for his stories.
The third section jumps a little forward in Bill’s life, and we find Bill still writing about the Harbor, from the point of view of efficiency. Joe continues to challenge Bill, and this time it is with respect to the condition of labor. We see in this section Bill’s attitude change towards the coming conflict between labor and capitol as he is torn between Joe and Eleanore’s father. In many ways Bill’s position towards the labor movement parallels the changes in his perception of the harbor earlier in the book. As a writer he starts out curious, he then becomes somewhat disdainful, and then moves to support for the cause.
The fourth book is the shortest of the novel, and serves to close out the story of Bill’s life so far, and gives an indication of where he is going. While there is little doubt that Ernest Poole supported the cause of labor, I think it is fair to say that he offered a reasonable look at the issue in this book. He doesn’t deny the idealism of those on the side of business and their ultimate goals, but he clearly doesn’t believe they are likely to be achieved. At the same time, while he does support the cause of labor, he does not ignore the ugly side of the movement.
This is an interesting book, although there are probably some people who would find it a bit slow moving. I enjoyed it, and I think it provides an interesting look at social concerns and the difference in societal classes which existed in the early 20th century in New York.
April 27, 2025
I read Ernest Poole's book, His Family, and I really liked it. I was curious to learn about Ernest Poole and found that His Family was the first book to receive the Pulitzer Prize in 1918, but book reviewers of the time felt that Poole's earlier book, The Harbor, was a better book and if the Pulitzer Prize was in existence at its publication, it would have won over His Family. While there were segments of The Harbor that were really interesting and engaging, a lot of it dragged. Not sure if it is because of the era of the book (1915 -- when it was published) or the writing, but either way it felt like the story was bogged down with details and old-fashioned prose. The book was really interesting in that it is filled with history of that time in New York City. I was intrigued to read about that era, not from research of the past but by a book was written by an author who was witnessing the events and living in the times. I gave the book to my husband to read because of its depth and the description of social issues of the time to compare to life and events of the present. As far as social inequality and justice, not much has changed. I would recommend this book to a very patient reader who is very interested in America in the early 1900s.
October 6, 2021
I hadn’t known of this author until I read his Pulitzer Prize winner ‘His Family’ which I liked a lot. Having now read this one, I actually think this is the better book. Both are very much of their time - the attitudes, mores and norms were so different to today, but both books reflect that period when things were changing so rapidly. Women beginning to assert their rights; workers wanting better treatment and better living conditions for themselves and their families; businesses and men of vision looking to the future - to modernising, growing, streamlining and conglomerating that which had previously been managed piecemeal. In amongst all of this is the story of one man whose life was dominated by the harbour. His father made his living from the harbour; he grew up within sight of it and both feared hated it; tried to escape but was drawn back only to make his own living from it, but in quite a different fashion. A very insightful and enjoyable read. I’ll definitely do at least one more from this author.
January 26, 2021
An interesting read, looking back at this contemporary novel from over a hundred years in the future. For some reason I never thought about how steam ships were physically powered, the description in the book is amazing and also hellish. I really felt the times come alive through the writing, including the worse parts such as the blatant racism. Reading up on the author's life and travels before the book, it's easy to see his political leanings, but the main character's journey was interesting.
November 29, 2023
great until he became a revolutionary tract
Poole knows a lot about people… but from the trenches of the labor movement of the twenties he couldn’t see that reforms would happen without complete smash up of society as we know it- he became lost in the thickets he strains so hard to get out above
Poole knows a lot about people… but from the trenches of the labor movement of the twenties he couldn’t see that reforms would happen without complete smash up of society as we know it- he became lost in the thickets he strains so hard to get out above
August 25, 2020
So boring. I read most of it and discovered that I really don't care how it ends.
July 8, 2024
20th Century labor struggles. My favorite genre.
December 20, 2016
Ernest Poole won the first ever Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1918 for His Family, but it was his novel of three years earlier, The Harbor, that remains his most lasting work. It's the story of a journalist named Billy (surely based on Poole himself), who grows up in a comfortable middle class house overlooking a harbor that his father runs as a small businessman. However, the harbor soon leaves his father behind as it becomes one huge corporate entity (along with the railroads) financed by Wall Street. Billy is stuck between two worlds, desiring to marry into a wealthy family whose patriarch is one of the engineers of the new industrial center, but strangely drawn into the world of the working class men who toil in the harbor, as represented by his radical college friend, Joe. We witness Billy grow up and come into his own as a writer while slowly beginning to understand the wage slave exploitation of the stokers and dockers who power international trade in the harbor but see none of the profits.
Poole's novel is honest, balanced, and straight-forward in its portrayal. The rich owners and their Wall Street backers, represented by the engineer Dillion, are not evil monsters. In fact, they think their work is actually helping the nation to grow (which it is, but at the expense of its poorest workers). The middle class, as represented by Billy's father, are not out-of-touch or unsympathetic characters. They work hard, but have faith in the system. Billy's father doesn't agree with the strike, and he even looks down on the labor leaders, but he is not a character "type" who exists merely as counterpoint to the strikers. He supports Billy's writing and is hopeful for the future. Likewise, the labor leaders are not painted as saints or heroes. They are regular men who have family problems and health issues. Their ideals carry them through their work, but they understand that the fight will go on long after they are gone, even if they do believe that the revolution is near. We are shown the harsh lives of the stokers, but never in an emotionally manipulative way. Poole doesn't exaggerate, nor does he hold back. We are witness to the workers bickering among themselves, and also their struggle to put aside their own personal prejudices.
In the midst of this, Billy acts as a type of connective surrogate. He reports on the events for both sides--first the industrialists, then for the strikers. He remains on friendly terms with both, even as he begins to side with the strikers. He believes in the revolution, but understands that it will not happen as soon or as quickly as Joe believes. He also understands that the best way to get out the message is not to work outside the system, but to work from within, trying to get his articles published in mainstream papers.
One hundred years after the novel was written, some progress has been made, but we are still dealing with the same issues presented in the novel. Workers who drive their industries make barely enough to survive. They work long hours will little overtime pay (and, if some in the Trump administration get their way, none at all). Wall Street still reaps the profits while the average worker goes home with not enough enough money to pay rent. Conservatives with ties to big business continue to dismantle labor unions and work to protect the interests of the 1%.
The question we must ask ourselves: where are the strikes? Where are the national movements of workers demanding their rights? Occasionally, we will see strikes for a 15-dollar minimum wage or equal pay for women (a point that Poole makes in his novel, as the suffragists are an important inspiration for Billy to join the socialist movement). And, of course, we have seen the Occupy Wall Street movement. But with all the power that social media gives us in organizing, we haven't made all that much progress in those marches translating to legislation, especially considering the work done on that front in the Progressive Era. The march forward continues, but at a pace that seems far slower than it was one-hundred years ago.
Another question we must ask: where are the literary voices helping to carry the banner in the 21st century? Where are our Ernest Pooles, Upton Sinclairs, and Ida Tarbells? And if they do exist, do they have any mass appeal? Does anyone read their work, outside the halls of the academy or urban intellectual circles?
In an era when the gap between rich and poor is greater than it has even been--when the new Trump cabinet will have more wealthy businessmen than even Harding's--Poole's novel challenges us to question how we will respond, and whether or not fiction can still be a powerful force in the struggle.
Poole's novel is honest, balanced, and straight-forward in its portrayal. The rich owners and their Wall Street backers, represented by the engineer Dillion, are not evil monsters. In fact, they think their work is actually helping the nation to grow (which it is, but at the expense of its poorest workers). The middle class, as represented by Billy's father, are not out-of-touch or unsympathetic characters. They work hard, but have faith in the system. Billy's father doesn't agree with the strike, and he even looks down on the labor leaders, but he is not a character "type" who exists merely as counterpoint to the strikers. He supports Billy's writing and is hopeful for the future. Likewise, the labor leaders are not painted as saints or heroes. They are regular men who have family problems and health issues. Their ideals carry them through their work, but they understand that the fight will go on long after they are gone, even if they do believe that the revolution is near. We are shown the harsh lives of the stokers, but never in an emotionally manipulative way. Poole doesn't exaggerate, nor does he hold back. We are witness to the workers bickering among themselves, and also their struggle to put aside their own personal prejudices.
In the midst of this, Billy acts as a type of connective surrogate. He reports on the events for both sides--first the industrialists, then for the strikers. He remains on friendly terms with both, even as he begins to side with the strikers. He believes in the revolution, but understands that it will not happen as soon or as quickly as Joe believes. He also understands that the best way to get out the message is not to work outside the system, but to work from within, trying to get his articles published in mainstream papers.
One hundred years after the novel was written, some progress has been made, but we are still dealing with the same issues presented in the novel. Workers who drive their industries make barely enough to survive. They work long hours will little overtime pay (and, if some in the Trump administration get their way, none at all). Wall Street still reaps the profits while the average worker goes home with not enough enough money to pay rent. Conservatives with ties to big business continue to dismantle labor unions and work to protect the interests of the 1%.
The question we must ask ourselves: where are the strikes? Where are the national movements of workers demanding their rights? Occasionally, we will see strikes for a 15-dollar minimum wage or equal pay for women (a point that Poole makes in his novel, as the suffragists are an important inspiration for Billy to join the socialist movement). And, of course, we have seen the Occupy Wall Street movement. But with all the power that social media gives us in organizing, we haven't made all that much progress in those marches translating to legislation, especially considering the work done on that front in the Progressive Era. The march forward continues, but at a pace that seems far slower than it was one-hundred years ago.
Another question we must ask: where are the literary voices helping to carry the banner in the 21st century? Where are our Ernest Pooles, Upton Sinclairs, and Ida Tarbells? And if they do exist, do they have any mass appeal? Does anyone read their work, outside the halls of the academy or urban intellectual circles?
In an era when the gap between rich and poor is greater than it has even been--when the new Trump cabinet will have more wealthy businessmen than even Harding's--Poole's novel challenges us to question how we will respond, and whether or not fiction can still be a powerful force in the struggle.
May 8, 2019
Ernest Poole won the very first Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1918 for his novel His Family, but within the literary circle it is commonly agreed that the award was for his 1915 novel the Harbor, which was published before the award came to existence.
The harbor told the story of Bill who grew up in the house of an entrepreneur father who operated his business out of a port harbor. This harbor saw extensive trade traffic, though there is a struggle to compete with naval trade routes in Europe and Asia. Bill's father saw the vision for the harbor, and its potential glory, he supposed, is attached to the entrepreneurs who sought to build bigger ships and hire more workers and expand the harbor.
This book contains a lot of dichotomies. The first is when Bill was a child. His mother promotes a life that includes "fine" things which reflect in the architecture of their house. His father, who was perpetually busy in his office in the harbor believed in industry and in the American glory. Even though he was raised primarily by his mother, he was drawn to the harbor, where he witnessed things that were not so "fine" like cursing, prostitution, violence, etc..
As Bill grew older, the initial dichotomy widened into more complex sides. Following his mother's suggestion, he studied aboard, learning art, music and literature. There, he met revoluntionaries, one of which being Joe Kramer, who supported labor strikes in various contries throughout Europe. After university, Bill started working as a writer and became associated with the high class societies, where he met and idolized men who had visions of what they wanted the harbor to be: an naval trade giant. But there is another layer to the harbor that Bill had forgotten: it was in the lower class: the stokers, the coolies, the men and boys working at the dock. The two sides came to clash later in the book, and the harbor being the titular backdrop of this war.
Written in first person, I find The Harbor easy to read. The prose was simple at first, becoming more powerful as Bill grew older. He's a writer after all. Ernest Pool wove the harbor into the themes very well, it is both a physical location and an allegory for Poole's message. Who is the harbor? Is it the big ships and the cargoes full of exotic goods, or the ashen stokers toiling near burning furnaces?
Poole even had the agency to extend his thematic reach to Russia, where laborers were going on strike for better pay and working condition, though this reach I felt was quite ham-fisted. Yes, Poole used the Russian labor strikes as a vehicle to demonstrate the clashing idealogies between Bill's highbrow attitude, his condescension toward the lower class and Joe Kramer's obsessive suffering and needless avoidance of joy in order to pursue what seemed to be a fully socialist society. I feel this clash of ideas are not done as well as it should, because the most heated of these idealogical collisions occured within the dialogues, within their banters and arguments and not much in the way of actions and events. This is the common foible among writers who tackled political themes, one of my recent examples being Brother Karamazov by Dostoyesky in which large ideas collide via mouthpieces and unending speech between the characters. But who can blame them? Dialogue is the most direct, easiest method of communication, but I believe grand themes should be communicated by grand methods. That's just me though.
6.5/10
The harbor told the story of Bill who grew up in the house of an entrepreneur father who operated his business out of a port harbor. This harbor saw extensive trade traffic, though there is a struggle to compete with naval trade routes in Europe and Asia. Bill's father saw the vision for the harbor, and its potential glory, he supposed, is attached to the entrepreneurs who sought to build bigger ships and hire more workers and expand the harbor.
This book contains a lot of dichotomies. The first is when Bill was a child. His mother promotes a life that includes "fine" things which reflect in the architecture of their house. His father, who was perpetually busy in his office in the harbor believed in industry and in the American glory. Even though he was raised primarily by his mother, he was drawn to the harbor, where he witnessed things that were not so "fine" like cursing, prostitution, violence, etc..
As Bill grew older, the initial dichotomy widened into more complex sides. Following his mother's suggestion, he studied aboard, learning art, music and literature. There, he met revoluntionaries, one of which being Joe Kramer, who supported labor strikes in various contries throughout Europe. After university, Bill started working as a writer and became associated with the high class societies, where he met and idolized men who had visions of what they wanted the harbor to be: an naval trade giant. But there is another layer to the harbor that Bill had forgotten: it was in the lower class: the stokers, the coolies, the men and boys working at the dock. The two sides came to clash later in the book, and the harbor being the titular backdrop of this war.
Written in first person, I find The Harbor easy to read. The prose was simple at first, becoming more powerful as Bill grew older. He's a writer after all. Ernest Pool wove the harbor into the themes very well, it is both a physical location and an allegory for Poole's message. Who is the harbor? Is it the big ships and the cargoes full of exotic goods, or the ashen stokers toiling near burning furnaces?
Poole even had the agency to extend his thematic reach to Russia, where laborers were going on strike for better pay and working condition, though this reach I felt was quite ham-fisted. Yes, Poole used the Russian labor strikes as a vehicle to demonstrate the clashing idealogies between Bill's highbrow attitude, his condescension toward the lower class and Joe Kramer's obsessive suffering and needless avoidance of joy in order to pursue what seemed to be a fully socialist society. I feel this clash of ideas are not done as well as it should, because the most heated of these idealogical collisions occured within the dialogues, within their banters and arguments and not much in the way of actions and events. This is the common foible among writers who tackled political themes, one of my recent examples being Brother Karamazov by Dostoyesky in which large ideas collide via mouthpieces and unending speech between the characters. But who can blame them? Dialogue is the most direct, easiest method of communication, but I believe grand themes should be communicated by grand methods. That's just me though.
6.5/10
July 20, 2012
I was assigned this book as part of a Modernist literature class at the University of Akron and I was quite surprised on how much I liked it. Many assigned novels are usually interesting but I wouldn't say that I read them for pleasure. This book was different and I enjoyed it a lot. Especially the first 2 sections of the book. There are many great scenes in the second half of the book but I think the first half was written much better.
Billy wants to be a writer and to be a good writer he feels like he must experience all there is in life to represent it well. He falls in love with art, with capitalism, with love, with big ideas, little ideas, the working class, socialism, and many other topics. Along the way, like many young people searching for their truth (or as Billy calls it, his newest god), he becomes confused and disoriented. Are the upperclass bankers and wall streeters the bad guys or the good guys? Are the working class strikers scary and worthless or are they the people that the world has been built upon? These are the questions that Billy faces and even though he picks a side in the end, it's not as whole hearted as one would expect from a book that says it is the "The 1915 socialist masterpiece" on the back cover.
What is most interesting to me is the fact that Ernest Poole was a big time socialist. He traveled the world learning about the working class and fighting for union strikes, but his main character Billy never commits to that life. Joe Kramer, Billy's friend who keeps bringing him back to the mess, does live like that but his life is never shown as glorious. In fact, it is shown as quite the opposite. By the end of the book Billy is rooting for the workers but the end seems anti-climatic. War is coming and the tides of American radicalism are about to change but Billy never gives up his happy middle class life and still works for upper-class citizens. His views have changed but he sees the world from a very neutral area. Yes, the people with the money and power are changing the world in amazing ways but they are doing it on the backs of those that have almost no voice. Will technology save the day? Strikes and socialism? None of these questions are answered fully and the reader is left to ponder the ideas just as much as Billy and Eleanor (his wife) are.
It is not at all what I expected and I like that in a book. It made me think. This wasn't just another "The Jungle" that tried to sign everyone up for the socialist party at the end of the book. Don't get me wrong, the socialist point of view is throughout this book but it's not just propaganda thrown in your face. I recommend this book to anyone who has an open mind about political issues and wants to read a great book from the turn of the last century. The book was lost for a long time but thanks to Patrick Chura and Penguin Classics it is back in the public's minds.
Billy wants to be a writer and to be a good writer he feels like he must experience all there is in life to represent it well. He falls in love with art, with capitalism, with love, with big ideas, little ideas, the working class, socialism, and many other topics. Along the way, like many young people searching for their truth (or as Billy calls it, his newest god), he becomes confused and disoriented. Are the upperclass bankers and wall streeters the bad guys or the good guys? Are the working class strikers scary and worthless or are they the people that the world has been built upon? These are the questions that Billy faces and even though he picks a side in the end, it's not as whole hearted as one would expect from a book that says it is the "The 1915 socialist masterpiece" on the back cover.
What is most interesting to me is the fact that Ernest Poole was a big time socialist. He traveled the world learning about the working class and fighting for union strikes, but his main character Billy never commits to that life. Joe Kramer, Billy's friend who keeps bringing him back to the mess, does live like that but his life is never shown as glorious. In fact, it is shown as quite the opposite. By the end of the book Billy is rooting for the workers but the end seems anti-climatic. War is coming and the tides of American radicalism are about to change but Billy never gives up his happy middle class life and still works for upper-class citizens. His views have changed but he sees the world from a very neutral area. Yes, the people with the money and power are changing the world in amazing ways but they are doing it on the backs of those that have almost no voice. Will technology save the day? Strikes and socialism? None of these questions are answered fully and the reader is left to ponder the ideas just as much as Billy and Eleanor (his wife) are.
It is not at all what I expected and I like that in a book. It made me think. This wasn't just another "The Jungle" that tried to sign everyone up for the socialist party at the end of the book. Don't get me wrong, the socialist point of view is throughout this book but it's not just propaganda thrown in your face. I recommend this book to anyone who has an open mind about political issues and wants to read a great book from the turn of the last century. The book was lost for a long time but thanks to Patrick Chura and Penguin Classics it is back in the public's minds.
February 17, 2016
This is an interesting book. In my opinion, it is one of the best social protest books in American literature. It deals with early 20th century feminist concerns—suffrage, the woman's place in the work force, and the woman's role in the family, especially regarding child-rearing responsibilities. It looks into labor vs capital relations, workplace safety, and general working conditions. And of course New York harbor is the central theme. We see the harbor through the point of view of three different people, and is a metaphor for each life. It also takes a hard look at the closeness and love, or lack of it, that often exists between parent and child.
It is unusual in that most of the characters have no surname. And some have no name at all. The mother and father are central characters, but they are never named. Bill, the narrator and aspiring writer, has his first relationship with a young woman, and she goes nameless as well. Children are born into nameless families, and carry on that tradition by being left nameless themselves.
The story is a 25 year retrospective from Bill's point of view, taking the reader back to a time when he was 7 years old in the late 1880s. Figuring out everyone's age, and chronology of events, was a challenge at times.
It has several similarities with another of Poole's best known works, His Family, leading me to believe that there is a lot here that is autobiographical. I won't let on what those similarities are, foregoing spoiler alerts.
July 4, 2016
Something I read to broaden my horizons...Pulitzer Prize winner Ernest Poole wrote "The Harbor" just before WWI broke out and is set during that period. It describes the love-hate relationship between the main character, Billy, and the NY harbor. He experiences the best and worst of life as he explores and writes about the harbor, and the harbor really becomes a character in the novel. I enjoyed the parts about Billy's childhood, but I got bogged down later on in the story. It occurred to me that "The Harbor" is "The Jungle" for dock workers, and so I was interested to learn after I finished that Ernest Poole and Upton Sinclair were friends. I was not surprised to learn that Poole was a Socialist, because the socialist rants were sort of what lost me in the latter half of the book. As I read about Poole, it also struck me how much he was like his main character. He really was a good writer, and the book deserves more than three starts, but I grew tired of it.
July 22, 2015
Interesting period piece. The story of a bourgeois dilatant who discovers the grim underside of turn-of-the-19th-century industrialism. The harbor in question is New York. A history of how the harbor has changed since the age of sail, and the social and economic consequences of that change, is woven in to the story of the protagonist’s family. Through his protagonist, the author presents the case for the ideology of the “great man”. At this time, there was a widespread idea that all of society’s achievements and hope of progress rested on allowing “great men” to do what great men do. This idea lies at the bottom of what is happening in our time, but in our time it is vialed.
Read
June 9, 2012Gung-ho fresh-faced boy wanders New York harbor, starting from his boyhood forays down Brooklyn Heights. Determined to find authentic heart of American experience in industrial metropolis and sooty harbor. Full of turn-of-the century labor radicalism, written by a journalist who participated in Patterson Silk Strike Pageant and befriended Bill Haywood, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and John Reed. This is less the tracery of cables pinning the Brooklyn Bridge to East River shores and more a close-up of the calluses on longshoreman's hands. Great period feel.
June 14, 2012
The first book by Poole, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his second book, but critics generally think this was the better book. It follows the development of a harbor area in NYC, through the character as a child, a young man, and then a grown man. It essentially traces the industrialization of the US and the way that international trade changed US economic relations. It also traces the rise of unions in the US, which I enjoyed. Good book!
August 7, 2013
98-year-old novel about a young man's growing up alongside the NY harbor and gradually moving from sympathy for the movers and shakers to sympathy for the stokers, dockers, and "little men" who suffer for little pay. A "Socialist" novel, which ought to be better known. It is also almost a kind of metafiction or postmodern work, as the book becomes by its end the book its narrator has decided to write.
February 4, 2014
It took a while for the book to really get going, it was not until the last quarter of the book that it really began to incite my passion for reading about stuff like this. I think "The Jungle" by Sinclair spoiled this genre for me; it is an absolute masterpiece of early 20th century "socialist" literature from page one till the end. But leaving "Jungle" aside, "The Harbor" stands out as more of an autobiography than a "muckraking" novel.
February 21, 2023
I found this book a slow read. A dated and very light on details look at a commercial port in the early 20th century. As a social expose- does not compare with Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. An annoying amount of romance in the background is a distraction. Probably more shoking when it was written. At best only ok.
March 12, 2025
Worth the effort. I enjoyed reading an older style of writing. Written in 1915 from the point of view of a young journalist. It's about the New York City harbor and how changes affected everyone. Interesting history and points of view.
His next book was the first Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, but this book may be the better of the two according to one account.
His next book was the first Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, but this book may be the better of the two according to one account.
February 16, 2012
Socialist muckraking in which the hero (Billy, no last name) tells the story of his growth from believer in art, to believer in capitalism, to a belliever in the revolution of the workers. Valuable more as a social document than as a significant work of literature.
January 23, 2016
Superb! Absolutely superb! Opens your mind, draws you in. Brilliant writer.
January 12, 2023
Inspired me to take literature seriously in my life again.
April 12, 2012
socialist rant
July 16, 2017
I'll be reviewing this in the future. Highly recommended.
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