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Out of the jungle; Jimmy Hoffa and the remaking of the American working class.
Jimmy Hoffa is one of the most storied figures in American history, a rough-and-tumble Indiana native who became the head of the largest and most powerful union in twentieth-century America. More than a quarter-century after his mysterious disappearance, Hoffa’s legend lives on. Yet much of his life, and the significance of his public career, has remained obscured by myth or entirely unknown.
In Out of the Jungle, historian Thaddeus Russell gives us a detailed, crisply written, and fascinating account of Jimmy Hoffa’s life and times, much of it previously untold. Russell argues that Hoffa was compelled by a variety of social forces to place the economic interests of his union members over broad ideological concerns. The most important of those forces was the demonstrated desire of ordinary Teamsters to improve their material lives. “What do you hire us for,” he famously asked a meeting of truck drivers, “if not to sell your labor at the highest buck we can get?” He responded to the rank-and-file members’ demands as did none of his contemporaries in the labor movement, seeking financial gain with the mercilessness that made him renowned and feared.
Russell shows how Hoffa’s ruthless attitudes evolved over his career. Beginning in the small Indiana coal-mining towns where he was born and raised, continuing into Depression-era and wartime Detroit, and then across the country after the war when Hoffa gained national notoriety, Russell places his life and career in historical perspective. The author presents new interpretations of how the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and Robert F. Kennedy’s crusade against organized crime affected not only Hoffa and the Teamsters but also the American labor movement as a whole.
In this lively and thorough narrative, Thaddeus Russell illuminates the life of one of the most mysterious, compelling, and important figures in modern American history.
In Out of the Jungle, historian Thaddeus Russell gives us a detailed, crisply written, and fascinating account of Jimmy Hoffa’s life and times, much of it previously untold. Russell argues that Hoffa was compelled by a variety of social forces to place the economic interests of his union members over broad ideological concerns. The most important of those forces was the demonstrated desire of ordinary Teamsters to improve their material lives. “What do you hire us for,” he famously asked a meeting of truck drivers, “if not to sell your labor at the highest buck we can get?” He responded to the rank-and-file members’ demands as did none of his contemporaries in the labor movement, seeking financial gain with the mercilessness that made him renowned and feared.
Russell shows how Hoffa’s ruthless attitudes evolved over his career. Beginning in the small Indiana coal-mining towns where he was born and raised, continuing into Depression-era and wartime Detroit, and then across the country after the war when Hoffa gained national notoriety, Russell places his life and career in historical perspective. The author presents new interpretations of how the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and Robert F. Kennedy’s crusade against organized crime affected not only Hoffa and the Teamsters but also the American labor movement as a whole.
In this lively and thorough narrative, Thaddeus Russell illuminates the life of one of the most mysterious, compelling, and important figures in modern American history.
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First published September 11, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 24, 2011
This book does a good job of showing how Teamsters' leader Jimmy Hoffa was both incredibly successful and incredibly corrupt. I enjoyed it and learned a lot about Hoffa, a somewhat mythical and somewhat villainous character in the U.S. labor movement. Here was one passage I highlighted, which contains the seeds of Hoffa's victories, as well as his ultimate downfall:
"Rather than devoting their time to signing up workers and petitioning for representative elections, they preferred a two-step strategy that was far more effective against the small and scattered carhaul companies. The local's business agents first approached the owner of the firm and told him that if he did not enroll his employees with the union his trucks would be bombed. Next, if the employer refused to capitulate, they bombed his trucks."
"Rather than devoting their time to signing up workers and petitioning for representative elections, they preferred a two-step strategy that was far more effective against the small and scattered carhaul companies. The local's business agents first approached the owner of the firm and told him that if he did not enroll his employees with the union his trucks would be bombed. Next, if the employer refused to capitulate, they bombed his trucks."
October 12, 2011
I did not finish the book because I got bored with it. I wanted to read it after seeing the movie "Hoffa" starring Jack Nicholson.
What I did read made me glad I never had to deal with Hoffa.
To me if Hoffa did not get his way he turned to violence and intimidation and sometimes that was what he did first before negotiating. He is to be applauded for becoming a powerful force in the American labor movement with only a ninth grade education. He was the right person at the right time. I am personally turned off by people like him who are just legalized unreasoning corrupt thugs. He got involved with the wrong people and paid with his life. I don't feel sad for him. He did a lot of good for organized labor but he went to far and was out of control.
What I did read made me glad I never had to deal with Hoffa.
To me if Hoffa did not get his way he turned to violence and intimidation and sometimes that was what he did first before negotiating. He is to be applauded for becoming a powerful force in the American labor movement with only a ninth grade education. He was the right person at the right time. I am personally turned off by people like him who are just legalized unreasoning corrupt thugs. He got involved with the wrong people and paid with his life. I don't feel sad for him. He did a lot of good for organized labor but he went to far and was out of control.
January 16, 2021
an interesting treatment of Hoffa's career as a labor leader...not much biographical detail here except when it intersects with the labor movement he led, but you can get that stuff elsewhere. this is an easy to read book, almost like an "accessible dissertation," that assembles a lot of evidence in support of Russell's thesis that competition among unions, not the character of union leaders or their fidelity to abstract principles, results in the best gains for members.
to the extent that unionism has stalled in the US, both taft-hartley and landrum-griffin can be seen not so much as restraints on a working class leading us toward socialism but rather "big government" regulation of union competition at a time when this sort of organizing was still rough and tumble and had a chance to keep +++ standards of living.
russell concludes by pointing to (mediocre) jimmy hoffa jr's challenge to teamsters for a democratic union-backed ron carey, who had to step it up to negotiate a good contract in '97 with UPS, converting 100k part time jobs into ft roles, before getting the boot for fiscal misdeeds. hoffa jr, in turn, was forced to "strike" a nonunion employer to show his restive membership he was willing to fight to stay in power. russell's conclusion is that, even w/ the limitations imposed by TH and LG, unions work best when the membership is steadfastly opposed to its leadership and constantly forcing them to work to stay in power. is this true? the us steel experience described in john hoerr's exceptionally detailed "and the wolf finally came" suggests otherwise. i'll write up those thoughts when i finish that tome in a few days
i interviewed russell on my podcast what's left? :
https://www.patreon.com/posts/anti-so...
to the extent that unionism has stalled in the US, both taft-hartley and landrum-griffin can be seen not so much as restraints on a working class leading us toward socialism but rather "big government" regulation of union competition at a time when this sort of organizing was still rough and tumble and had a chance to keep +++ standards of living.
russell concludes by pointing to (mediocre) jimmy hoffa jr's challenge to teamsters for a democratic union-backed ron carey, who had to step it up to negotiate a good contract in '97 with UPS, converting 100k part time jobs into ft roles, before getting the boot for fiscal misdeeds. hoffa jr, in turn, was forced to "strike" a nonunion employer to show his restive membership he was willing to fight to stay in power. russell's conclusion is that, even w/ the limitations imposed by TH and LG, unions work best when the membership is steadfastly opposed to its leadership and constantly forcing them to work to stay in power. is this true? the us steel experience described in john hoerr's exceptionally detailed "and the wolf finally came" suggests otherwise. i'll write up those thoughts when i finish that tome in a few days
i interviewed russell on my podcast what's left? :
https://www.patreon.com/posts/anti-so...
August 25, 2022
Kind of wish this got more into the weeds of Hoffa's life and the mysteries surrounding his death but the portrait on offer of the labor movement feels complete and informative.
My one quibble is that the information presented in the book is constant and dense and therefore occasionally a slog to get through. the flip side of that is that it conveighs a lot of information to the reader page by page.
My one quibble is that the information presented in the book is constant and dense and therefore occasionally a slog to get through. the flip side of that is that it conveighs a lot of information to the reader page by page.
January 15, 2020
Sadly, no new info on Hoffa's disappearance. See "The Irishman."
April 19, 2022
Interesting enough, especially the last part of the book. Didn't know the guy who wrote this was weird
October 10, 2019
Thaddeus Russell has taken on the task of telling the story of Hoffa the Teamster. This is not really a biography of Hoffa the man for his family is barely mentioned nor is his daily life dealt with. This is the story of Hoffa and his Union and the history of the man and the organization are so deeply intertwined that this almost becomes a biography of the IBT. Russell really begins his story with Hoffa's early employment and his entry into the Union. From that point the author takes the reader along for the ride as the unknown Hoffa and his tiny Detroit local move into the big time. It is a fascinating story.
It appears that while Hoffa did indeed profit by some of his connections, his main reason for reaching out to the Mob in the first place was to gain needed muscle. Had that muscle been used exclusively against goons hired by management it would have been somewhat excusable. Many times however, that brute force was used against other unions. The odd thing is that after his release from prison Hoffa was seen by these underworld figures as a threat to their position in the IBT and that seems to have caused his disappearance. One wonders what would have happened if Hoffa had regained control of the Teamsters.
For someone who has studied the labor movement or a novice in this subject matter, this is a very good book. It is very well written and informative. Russell sheds new light on Hoffa and the IBT and does so in a very clear and easy to read manner. This story is sometimes very complicated but the author has done a remarkable job of explaining the whole story. This book is a welcome addition to the study of American Labor.
It appears that while Hoffa did indeed profit by some of his connections, his main reason for reaching out to the Mob in the first place was to gain needed muscle. Had that muscle been used exclusively against goons hired by management it would have been somewhat excusable. Many times however, that brute force was used against other unions. The odd thing is that after his release from prison Hoffa was seen by these underworld figures as a threat to their position in the IBT and that seems to have caused his disappearance. One wonders what would have happened if Hoffa had regained control of the Teamsters.
For someone who has studied the labor movement or a novice in this subject matter, this is a very good book. It is very well written and informative. Russell sheds new light on Hoffa and the IBT and does so in a very clear and easy to read manner. This story is sometimes very complicated but the author has done a remarkable job of explaining the whole story. This book is a welcome addition to the study of American Labor.
March 16, 2008
This book covers the rise of Jimmy Hoffa by ruthlessly taking advantage of secondary boycotts along with violence.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews