Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law

by Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy Gansler

In the tradition of A Civil Action and Erin Brockovitch , Class Action is a story of intrigue and injustice as dramatic as fiction but all the more poignant because it is true.

In the coldest reaches of northern Minnesota, a group of women endured a shocking degree of sexual harassment–until one of them stepped forward and sued the company that had turned a blind eye to their pleas for help. Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines , the first sexual harassment class action in America, permanently changed the legal landscape as well as the lives of the women who fought the battle.

In 1975, Lois Jenson, a single mother on welfare, heard that the local iron mine was now hiring women. The hours were grueling, but the pay was astonishing, and Jenson didn't think twice before accepting a job cleaning viscous soot from enormous grinding machines. What she hadn't considered was that she was now entering a male-dominated, hard-drinking society that firmly believed that women belonged at home–a sentiment quickly born out in the relentless, brutal harassment of every woman who worked at the mine. When a group of men whistled at her walking into the plant, she didn't think much of it; when they began yelling obscenities at her, she was resilient; when one of them began stalking her, she got mad; when the mining company was unwilling to come to her defense, she got even.

From Jenson’s first day on the job, through three intensely humiliating trials, to the emotional day of the settlement, it would take Jenson twenty-five years and most of her physical and mental health to fight the battle with the mining company. But with the support of other women miners like union official Patricia Kosmach and her luck at finding perhaps the finest legal team for class action law, Jenson would eventually prevail.

Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler take readers on a fascinating, page-turning journey, the roller-coaster ride that became Jenson vs. Eveleth and show us that Class Action is not just one woman's story, it's every woman's legacy.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Law, Feminism, Historical, True Crime, Audiobook

400 pages, Hardcover

First published June 18, 2002

About the author

Bingham was born in 1963 into a newspaper family in Louisville, Kentucky. She moved to New York City in 1968. She graduated from Harvard University in 1985 with a degree in History and Literature. At Harvard, she served as co-news editor of the Harvard Independent.

Bingham has written three books: 'Witness to the Revolution: Radicals, Resisters, Vets, Hippies, and the Year America Lost Its Mind and Found Its Soul' (2016), 'Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law' (co-written with Laura Leedy Gansler 2002), which was adapted into the 2005 feature film, 'North Country'. 'Class Action' was a 2002 Los Angeles Times best book of the year and won the AAUW Speaking Out For Justice Award in 2007.

Bingham's first book was omen on the Hill: Challenging the Culture of Congress' (1997).

As a Washington, D.C. correspondent for Newsweek magazine from 1989 to 1993, Bingham covered the George H. W. Bush administration leading up to and during the 1992 presidential election. Her writing has appeared widely in publications including, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair, Ms., Vogue, Talk Magazine, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, The Washington Monthly. She also worked as a stringer for United Press International in Papua New Guinea.

Bingham also worked as a press secretary for the 1988 presidential campaign of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis.

Bingham wrote an exposé about the Air Force Academy rape scandal for Vanity Fair in 2003, which earned her the 2004 Exceptional Merit in Media Award (EMMA) given by the National Women's Political Caucus. The article was anthologized in the 2004 edition of Best American Crime Writing. In January 2016, Investigation Discovery's Vanity Fair Confidential series featured Bingham in its one-hour program about the rape scandal.

While reporting a story in West Virginia, Bingham, a Kentucky native, witnessed the destructive effects of mountaintop removal coal mining for the first time. Afterwards, she spent several years producing The Last Mountain (directed by Bill Haney), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011, screened in theaters in over 60 American cities, and won the International Documentary Association's Pare Lorentz Award

Reviews

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Just like that affirmative action had come to the Iron Range, and it set the stage for Lois Jenson and a handful of women desperate for a decent wage to walk into a place that had been forced by the federal government to hire them".

Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law by Clara Bingham



Class Action is a very well written book. For those that don't know..this is the book that inspired the movie "North Country".

It is all about the Sexual Harassment case brought by Mine Workers that changed Sexual Harassment Laws. In the movie, Charlize Theron plays the lead. It is quite a story and not a happy one. Both the book and the film are excellent.

I enjoyed this book greatly. It goes into way more detail then the movie did and sort of fills in many of the blanks.

It's a very sad book too. There was so much that happened. But it is so odd reading it in that it is Non Fiction and: warning to any feminist: I am sure the book might make you angry. The reason it will make you angry is because of the deplorable and disgusting treatment of the women. But it's an important book to read and educational as well.

The book contains much Legal speak and I will admit there are parts that are a bit wordy and seemingly very long winded but it is pretty easy to read overall. It's an important book as well and educational although aspects of it are not easy to read.

Anyone interested in the subject matter would most likely really want to read this.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the true story behind the movie "North Country", about the first class action sexual harassment suit filed for women employees at Eveleth Mines, in Virginia, Minnesota. This is one of a bunch of towns on "the Range", Iron Range, about an hour or so from Duluth. Still haven't been there. I had the pleasure of meeting the heroine of Class Action, Lois Jenson, when she visited a writing class at UWS. The book doesn't do her justice (really, it doesn't). A brave and fascinating woman. The suit itself took over 13 years to finish, because the mining company refused to settle, using instead a "nuts and sluts" defense. The movie collapses this into a few short years -- it's an "inspired by" film because Jensen refused to sell the rights to her life/story to the film company. Jensen isn't that crazy about the book; the people in it never got a dime from the authors or the movie, the movie shot a lot of the scenes in Virginia, which opened old wounds. The book drags on at the end, like the courtroom part of the case did. I recommend the movie, which is true in spirit to much of the case, over the book, though the first couple chapters of the book are also worth reading.

[Emma Kizer · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 Stars

This book was such an enthralling one for me to read, both because of the landmark case and how it changed legal history and also because it takes place in Minnesota and in small ways, has direct ties to my current life in terms of names and locations that I recognize. (I am writing this at midnight, so I'm sure I won't be as eloquent as I would like to be in this review.)

From a technical aspect, the first half of the book was fairly slow to me. It was honestly very disheartening to read about continuous forms of harassment in the workplace that the women were bleeding into one another; this was obviously the crux of the issue. Sexual harassment and gender discrimination were so interwoven into the workplace that no woman was safe. Though I did find the first half slow, I appreciated the historical background of the area of Minnesota to explain why the blatant sexism was so prevalent. When the book started talking about the lawsuit, I felt much more invested in the story, which isn't too shocking considering I am a law student. The authors did a great job of explaining how the system works, it felt like a civil procedure crash course.

During the trial period of the book, I had to stop and think quite a few times to contemplate my own legal path. My heart fell to my stomach when I saw that the firm who represented the company was one in the city that I applied to, and it fell even further when I discovered the lead attorney attended the same law school as me. I understand every side deserves representation, I believe that wholeheartedly, but the tactics used by the defense were simply inhumane and cruel. It's stories like these that make you take a step back and check yourself on what type of lawyer you want to be.

Overall, this was a great telling of a landmark case. I don't think you have to be a law student by any means to enjoy it and find merit in it, but I would highly recommend my peers to bump this up on their list of books to read.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredibly informative, well written, and heart wrenching book. It's been a few years since I saw "North Country" but from what I remember, it absolutely pales in comparison to the book. The authors tell the story so well that I felt emotional several times while reading about the horrendous struggle the brave women at Eveleth Mines went through dealing with sexism at work and then dealing with retaliation & health problems after filing the lawsuit. The lawsuit lasted 14 years. And that was after the women had been dealing with horrible working conditions for 10-15 years already. Their perseverance is incredible.

It's sad that in the end, the women still didn't get what they had wanted in the first place - acknowledgment that the company was wrong for allowing sexist and damaging behavior to go on toward the women. No one at the company ever apologized. And at the onset, all the women wanted was the company to create a sexual harassment policy. The company wouldn't and so the trial dragged on for years.

A quote from the end of the book:
"'Even if my check was for $5 million, I don't know if I'd feel good about it,' Lois said. Most of all, she realized she had wanted an apology from the company, because it would have made her feel vindicated in a way the court system did not. 'We never got a chance to set the record straight,' Lois said. Echoed Marcy, 'We just wanted to be believed.'"

But again, really excellently written. I learned so much from start to finish!

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Onvan : Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law - Nevisande : Clara Bingham - ISBN : 385496133 - ISBN13 : 9780385496131 - Dar 400 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1999

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lois Jensen and the other women who broke the barrier for women by getting jobs in the Eveleth Mines in northern Minnesota have a story that needs to be told. This book is about the relentless sexual harassment that they endured on the job. The mines were court ordered to hire women and these women began working there in the 1970's.

Lois Jensen eventually sued the company for sexual harassment. After several other co-workers agreed to participate in the suit, a class action case was filed. It eventually went all the way to a high appeals court paving the way for women in other sexual harassment situations to sue. This true story was the basis for the somewhat fictionalized version "North Country." While the movie had the luxury of speeding up the legal process for dramatic purposes, the real story is much more grueling. Lois Jensen and a few of her co-plaintiffs suffered for years as the case dragged on for fourteen years. Lois developed several mental health problems as a result. In her way, she was a heroine doggedly pursuing justice for herself and other women. Women who take the ability to get good paying jobs need to read this book and know what those who came before them went through. A must read.

[Betty Mars · Rating 4 out of 5]

i felt the virgin/whore dichotomy was played up a little too much in the beginning--the start of the book has a very sensationalized approach, which is unnecessary. it doesn't matter whether lois jenson was prim, prudish, or a big ol' slut. no one deserves to be treated the way she was treated.

other than that, the story was an inspiration.

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fantastically written piece of nonfiction that I read it in one day, which is quite unusual for me when it comes to nonfiction. It recounts the story of the landmark Jenson v. Eveleth Mine Co. case that first made it possible to bring a class action lawsuit based on sexual harassment, to hold a company responsible for its hostile work environment, and to award damages based on emotional and psychological distress stemming from sexual harassment. Hard to believe that the case wasn't settled until 1997. The book is fast-paced and tells the story in a fairly even-handed way, explaining relevant legal terms and procedures along the way. Highly recommended.

Thanks for sending it, Claire R!

I don't know anything about the movie that came out a few years ago based on the case, "North Country," but it's now in our Neflix queue.

[Phobos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much different than the movie North Country which is partially based on this book. I liked the movie, as a movie it's very good but you cannot say it is a direct translation of the book or what really happened. The problem with reality is that it sometimes gets a bit dull. The middle section of the book detailing the endless trials these women go through was a bit much for me. If you're a student or lover of all things latigious you'll probably really enjoy the book.

What the women in the mines in Eveleth went through was horrible but I think the trials they went through were even more horrible. That's the American justice system for you.

[Roberta Havel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great legal drama on sexual harassment in the work place. It reads like fiction but it is non-fiction. I couldn’t put it down. I don’t think you will be able to either.

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard for me to say I "liked" this book because, even though it was well-written and kept my interest high, it was also so emotionally excruciating to read. I listened to this in audio form, which made it a twelve disc set. After the first three discs outlined the sexual harassment the women at Evelyth Mine faced in detail, I felt certain it could "only get better from there." But the entire experience these women endured, for almost twenty years of their lives, was harrowing. The sexual harassment was followed by retaliation once the law suit was filed; other women at the mine who experienced the same harassment turned against the plaintiffs out of fear of retaliation; and absolutely unethical investigation processes were allowed in court during the trial for "damages awards." Women who suffered physically and emotionally through the harassment experienced further deterioration to their health due to the invasive trial process, which treated the victims as though they were the criminals.

Although I usually am not a big fan of "vengeance," this book did make me really want to see Evelyth "get theirs." The sad thing is that, out of 700 employees, only about 30 of them were making life hell for their female coworkers. If Evelyth would have simply taken the initial complaints seriously and taken corrective action with those employees, everyone could have been spared a lot of stress and heartache. The mining company's arrogance and stubbornness throughout the whole process was incredibly discouraging.

The story was peppered with a few "bright" spots that kept it from being totally unbearable; the groundbreaking ruling that sexual harassment cases could be brought as class actions, the dedication of the lawyers who stuck with the case despite personal and financial loss, and the ultimate "victory" of the women in settling the case and setting a precedent for sexual harassment law throughout the U.S.

I read this book because I felt like I "should" because of the importance it plays in Minnesota and feminist history, and because I lived in the area where it takes place for many years. The authors' accuracy in depicting the northern Minnesota setting and culture was spot-on, although this represents one aspect of that culture that I am not proud to be a part of. Still, an important book that I'm glad I finally got around to reading -- this one will stick with me for a while.

[Bob Schmitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the movie "North Country," enjoyed it and so read the book. As is so often the case the movie is much neater, less complicated and happier than the book.

In the late 1970's Lois Jensen is a single mom who needs a better paying job and when she hears the Eveleth Mine in Forbes, Minnesota is hiring women she applies and is hired. The mine is a very hostile atmosphere for a few dozen women that work there. Crude remarks, unwanted touching, grabbing, gross graffiti, waved dildos, feces-smeared walls and tipped Porto-johns are some of the constant harassment the ladies experience. The ladies put up with it as they need the jobs and they were raised in a male dominated world in that part of Minnesota. Lois is not from that area and protests and after her supervisors, the mine owners and the union bosses will do nothing to help her Lois files a grievance with the EEOC. This eventually gets dropped and she ends up with a private attorney who files a class action suit. 10 years later after trials and appeals and devastating attacks by mining company lawyers she and her co-plaintiffs "win," getting a financial settlement but at a huge personal, psychological and social cost.

It is hard to recall that such blatant workplace gender hostility was commonplace 30 years ago. This was the case that established the precedence for class action suits and thus scared corporate America into changing.

Interestingly the book points out that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employer discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin or sex, the "sex" being added as a poison pill by octogenarian Virginia congressman Howard Smith who was sure that with that added the bill would never pass. Little did he know!

The movie has the women winning in court in a blaze of glory but the truth was less clean. A number of the women were severely emotionally damaged by the trauma of the trials, relationships were strained and destroyed and the settlement left a bitter taste in many of the plaintiffs mouths. (no public humbling or apology from the company, settlement amounts were undisclosed leading to misinterpretations and jealousy etc.)

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing the movie "North Country" I was interested in reading this book which inspired the movie. The movie, which does not intend to be a re-telling of the actual events does a good job of depicting the nature of the harassment inflicted on the women who went to work in the Eveleth Company mines in northern Minnesota. The sexual harassment class action brought against the country was the first sexual harassment class action in the country and changed the course of litigation against sexual harassment from that time forward. However, the movie completely glosses over the incredible ordeal that the women went through through 3 court cases to win their suit. One of the claimants died and many of them suffered severe emotional and physical distress, including PTSD. While in the end the "good gals" won, the story does not give one confidence in our legal system when people long denied legal rights seek to win them. The physical and mental abuse suffered by the women on the job almost pales to the public humiliation and emotional "raping" they endured through the legal system. Lois Jensen the main character and the woman who first brought the case forward, suffered before, during and even after the case. In the end justice was done, but it shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that true systemic change only comes at a tremendous cost, something many would-be activists often ignore.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of the case (Jensen v. Eveleth Mines) that defines what we as a society today generally consider "common sense" regarding sexual harassment or gender discrimination in the work place. This is the case that informed the content of those "sensitivity training" or "sexual harassment" courses many of us are required to take in the work place - the ones most of us are tempted to consider ridiculous. It also set the precedent that protects sexual harassment plaintiffs against overly intrusive discovery (similar to the rape shield laws for rape cases). It is the reason that today victims of discrimination and harassment don't have to put their entire lives on trial in a public way. The heart of this case protects women's right to work. I admit the main plaintiff is not very likeable to me. But as a woman a woman in the professional workforce, I am indebted to her for what she went through to create the safety guarantees that I enjoy. And am awe of attorneys like the ones who fought this case for 10 years for no pay.

[Felicity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. This book is well worth reading, not for any great artistry of prose, but for the story it tells. This case, dramatized (and actually toned down, I hear) for the big screen as North Country is unbelievable. Unbelievable the crap these women went through in order to get a living wage, unbelievable the tactics brought to bear against them by the company's lawyers, and unbelievable, to me at least, that this case and all its legal implications were not resolved until 1998.

I think by 1998 I'd already heard a contemporary say that feminism was 'over' because it had done its work back in the 1970s. Hell, maybe I thought it myself. The fight for equity wasn't and isn't over, and this clearly written account (co-authored by a lawyer and a reporter) will make you grateful for the laws that protect everyone at work today in America, and the sacrifices that were made to get them.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Strongly recommend to males and females. If you are reluctant because you saw North Country this is WAY better and the movie actually diverges quite a bit from the true story, which is much better. It is so sad that women used to have no legal protection in their areas of work. A lot of people complain about sexual harassment laws but after reading this you’ll see just how necessary they are. A lot of interesting insight on the justice system and how it can put the very people it sets out to protect on trial. It is amazing how long it took and the sacrifices these women (and Lois in particular) made to change the system. I hope that had I been in the same predicament I would have stood up to the injustice but I honestly don’t think I would have been able to. I highly recommend it.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shocking to learn that the sexual harassment in the movie North Country was actually somewhat milder than the real-life occurrences detailed in this book. Very thoroughly researched and easy to read, and very informative about some truly shocking abuse, and Court decisions, that were just not that long ago.

Authors' lack of understanding of business and economics (steel "dumping," acting like it's a bad thing that businesses care about profits, promoting "buy American," etc.) was a little grating, and ultimately I didn't find the main plaintiff quite as sympathetic as they intended.

[p · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I had to read this for class, so maybe that made it less enjoyable.)

All I remember from the books is that the North Country is full of sexist pigs. It was not a very exciting book, but Bingham did a great job making a non-fiction book read like fiction.

Also, it seemed rather biased toward the plaintiffs. Even though apparently the defendants and defendants' counsel refused to be interviewed, I feel the book could have been more evenhanded.

[* kyrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this shortly after seeing the movie "North Country" that was based off of it.
Both the movie and the book moved me deeply.
It gave me hope to read about the trials & tribulations of how long it took to build this class action suit on discrimination against women.

Come a few days ago when the Supreme Court seems to decide that women are no longer a protected class and have ruled that women can not bring a class-action suit against that worker abusing monstrosity Wal-mart.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, but the movie was horrible. If you read the book and then see the movie you will have to ask "What the....?" The actual story is fascinating enough - Hollywood did not need to cheese it up and change important storylines. For someone who grew up near the Iron Range in the 70's at the height of the feminist movement and all of the controversy that brought, this was a great read.

[Rod Zemke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but it took some liberties with the facts. I know the woman who represented the mining company (a good person and a feminist). It would have been nice if Bingham could have interviewed her for the book (the attorney could not discuss the case as that was part of the settlement).

[erin cosens · Rating 4 out of 5]

the best account of the difficulty of filing a suit against sexual harassment and the gross failures of sexual harassment law.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down. And, it was absolutely horrifying.

The true story of how sexual harassment law evolved right here in Minnesota, and the cost of standing up for your rights, this book chronicles a fifteen-year legal battle waged by women taconite miners to fighting for the right to not be terrorized at work. All they wanted was a sexual harassment policy and a grievance policy. And it took them more than 20 years to get one.

I wanted to learn more about the history of sexual harassment law and the shoulders I am standing on. I needed to know who had fought the battles to make current law offer the protections it does (which we know are still not enough). And what I learned was so eye-opening and disturbing. What these women went through was so horrific -- both in the mines and in the long, traumatizing journey of the lawsuit.

Instead of settling the case at the outset and creating a sexual harassment policy, which is all the women wanted in the first place, Eveleth Mines spent millions of dollars on litigation insisting they didn't need one. They dragged these women into endless depositions, going over every traumatic thing that had ever happened to them, in hopes of proving that any emotional damage these women suffered was due to something other than the terrorism they had faced at work. And although the records of these traumas were supposed to be sealed under law, the judge WAS HIMSELF A SEXUAL HARASSER and aired all of these women's deepest darkest secrets, which had NOTHING TO DO with harassment at the mines, for the whole world to know. And during the course of the litigation, the women's mental health deteriorated beyond repair -- because of their fear of retaliation, the uncertainty of what would happen, their damaged credibility and reputation among their small community, and the way the defendants' lawyers tried to destroy them through deposition and on the stand.

They created great law on appeal. But at terrible psychological cost.

Did you know! If you don't have a sexual harassment policy and clear grievance procedures, you could be held liable in court. This has been common practice since 1986 when the issue first came before the Supreme Court. Anyone who tells you that a policy *makes* you liable is wrong (someone tried to convince me of this; I did not buy it). Does your workplace not have one? You should change that probably today.

This book was riveting and horrifying and I couldn't put it down. It was very heavy on the legal stuff -- this case was groundbreaking on a number of legal fronts: the first sexual harassment case to be certified as a class action, the first sexual harassment case where the company was held liable, and an incredible win in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. (The book was co-written by a journalist and a lawyer.) This book was clearly focused on the law rather than character-driven narrative, though it is a page-turner regardless.

Anyway, Lois Jenson is an American hero and she lives right here in Minnesota. Know her name. Know her story. Know the shoulders you stand on.

[Bill Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the very best non-fiction books I've ever read. Class Action tells the story of Lois Jensen, a young woman who begins working at a Minnesota mining company, and promptly is subjected to a gauntlet of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, stalking and intimidation for the better part of two decades.

The authors dispassionately chronicle the timeline of Lois's life, from her rough beginnings in the Twin Cities to her poverty, which seemingly would end as one of the few women hired at Evelyth Mines. Unfortunately, Lois's time at the mines end up ruining her mental and physical health, and send her into a spiral of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Class Action is not misery porn: it is a cold, comprehensive retelling of the struggles of Lois and dozens of other women at the hands of scumbag male coworkers and a corporation that doesn't give a shit. A straight line can be drawn from the mid-1970s "boys will be boys," "if you can't stand the heat" discriminatory attitude to the late-1990s -- well past Anita Hill -- when corporations started paying attention because of the damage to their bottom lines.

This is one of those books that I couldn't wait to start reading, and actually got excited to see how much time was left. Because despite how angry I became reading it, I knew that justice had to prevail on the other side. The combination of the chronologies of the lives of the women and the parallel legal motions makes for an utterly compelling read. Even if you've seen North Country, you need to read this.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot say I “liked” this book because the subject matter is so completely devastating but, it is a well-written account of an extremely important lawsuit that has changed the way sexual harassment in the workplace is handled.

My heart hurts for the women in this book. They were victims of the judgmental rape culture of the 70’and 80’s when they sought employment at the mines, they were victims of countless abuses of power while they simply wanted to do their jobs, they were completely failed by their union- multiple times, they suffered at the hands of the defendants lawyers who needlessly dragged out the litigation process, and they were victimized by the very legal system that they eventually (out of desperation) sought to help them achieve a harassment free workplace.

My heart hurts for these women and at the same time, it is filled with awe and gratitude for them. This quote from the epilogue really spoke to me: “The nature of social change is that we make martyrs out of pioneers. We have yet to figure out how to make social change without sacrificing people along the way.” -Laura J. Cooper (a law professor at the U of M in regards to this case) The women in this book, especially Lois and Pat, truly sacrificed themselves to create social change.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the inside story from the plaintiff's view of Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States. It was filed in 1988 on behalf of Lois Jenson and other female workers at the Eveleth Taconite mine in Eveleth, Minnesota on the state's northern Mesabi Range, which is part of the Iron Range. This is Bob Dylan's "North Country" and an insular region featuring at this time stark gender roles. The women over many years in the mines suffered the harassment only to have over many years that and personal life issues outside of work relived and exposed in the many court proceedings and depositions. This led to PTSD and other issues as they battled not only the Goliath corporation but their own unsympathetic union and for many years under the atrocious judgeship of McNulty.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a good book but not in a “feel good” way. It was really well-written and unlike other reviewers, I didn’t find it dull or dragging at all. I did find it unbelievable what the women at the Eveleth Mine went through for years, both in the sexual harassment they had to endure and the 14 years it took to get a modicum of justice. It’s brutally graphic in recounting what they endured and it’s heartbreaking. But it is also an inspiring read about the first class action sexual harassment lawsuit and the women who made it happen. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. They made it into a movie in 2005 called North Country. Other reviewers have said it’s very good... will have to check it out!

[Lee Tyner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but Abridged Would Be GREAT

Great story about an awful event and provides a thorough review of how cases proceed and navigate. The problem is the authors’ writing style. They repeat themselves to ad nauseam. Likewise, the authors struggle with paragraph development. Many themes take a hard left mid paragraph, only to be repeated three more times. Tragic story and educational value: 5 stars. Writing style: Two and 3/4 stars. It was a GREAT 250 page book that lasted 400 pages.

[Sara Jordahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up on the Iron Range so this is a huge part of history. While the movie North Country pales in comparison to what happened to these women I feel like the movie was a little easier to fallow. The book is great, well written, and nicely researched. However, there was a lot of extra detail that made the book hard to pay attention to. I'm happy I read it because I did get a wider picture, I recognized a lot of names, and was shocked by a lot of it. I think the movie just paints a better picture of the iron range area and points out how the mines look. Very good part of history.

[Bridget Maas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great non-fiction account of the first sexual harassment class action claim in the US. It is moth educational and heart wrenching hearing the years of intense sexual harassment and gender discrimination the women faces and the unfathomable hurdles they encountered over their ten year journey to the legal system seeking justice. The authors’ writing is engaging and their storytelling ability keeps this from every being dry.