Labor Under Fire: A History of the AFL-CIO Since 1979

by Timothy J. Minchin

From the Reagan years to the present, the labor movement has faced a profoundly hostile climate. As America's largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO was forced to reckon with severe political and economic headwinds. Yet the AFL-CIO survived, consistently fighting for programs that benefited millions of Americans, including social security, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, and universal health care. With a membership of more than 13 million, it was also able to launch the largest labor march in American history--1981's Solidarity Day--and to play an important role in politics.

In a history that spans from 1979 to the present, Timothy J. Minchin tells a sweeping, national story of how the AFL-CIO sustained itself and remained a significant voice in spite of its powerful enemies and internal constraints. Full of details, characters, and never-before-told stories drawn from unexamined, restricted, and untapped archives, as well as interviews with crucial figures involved with the organization, this book tells the definitive history of the modern AFL-CIO.

414 pages, Hardcover

Published May 15, 2017

About the author

Timothy J. Minchin is professor of history and deputy head of the School of Historical and European Studies at La Trobe University. He is a recipient of the Richard A. Lester Prize from Princeton University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He has published widely on recent American history, especially that of the southern states. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Reviews

[Shaun Richman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an important subject done a terrible disservice by this book. It's superficial, devoid of analysis and repetitive. There are glaring omissions of sources and information, and areas where the author just gets the story wrong.

Hopefully, someday another reporter will make good use of Minchin's index of sources and interviews as the start of the book this needed to be.