A Strike Like No Other Strike

Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the union, most of the strikers faced elimination of their jobs and an ongoing struggle for pensions and health benefits.

In this era of globalization's ruthless deracination, place attachments have become increasingly salient in collective mobilizations across the spectrum of politics. Like place-based activists in other resource-rich yet impoverished regions across the globe, Appalachians are contesting economic injustice, environmental degradation, and the anti-democratic power of elites. This collection of seventeen original essays by scholars and activists from a variety of backgrounds explores this wide range of oppositional politics, querying its successes, limitations, and impacts. The editors' critical introduction and conclusion integrate theories of place and space with analyses of organizations and events discussed by contributors. Transforming Places illuminates widely relevant lessons about building coalitions and movements with sufficient strength to challenge corporate-driven globalization. Contributors are Fran Ansley, Yaira Andrea Arias Soto, Dwight B. Billings, M. Kathryn Brown, Jeannette Butterworth, Paul Castelloe, Aviva Chomsky, Dave Cooper, Walter Davis, Meredith Dean, Elizabeth C. Fine, Jenrose Fitzgerald, Doug Gamble, Nina Gregg, Edna Gulley, Molly Hemstreet, Mary Hufford, Ralph Hutchison, Donna Jones, Ann Kingsolver, Sue Ella Kobak, Jill Kriesky, Michael E. Maloney, Lisa Markowitz, Linda McKinney, Ladelle McWhorter, Marta Maria Miranda, Chad Montrie, Maureen Mullinax, Phillip J. Obermiller, Rebecca O'Doherty, Cassie Robinson Pfleger, Randal Pfleger, Anita Puckett, Katie Richards-Schuster, June Rostan, Rees Shearer, Daniel Swan, Joe Szakos, Betsy Taylor, Thomas E. Wagner, Craig White, and Ryan Wishart.

How the revival of the classic production-halting strike is the best hope for a revitalization of the labor movement.

The first book to cover the entirety of disability history, from pre-1492 to the present Disability is not just the story of someone we love or the story of whom we may become; rather it is undoubtedly the story of our nation. Covering the entirety of US history from pre-1492 to the present, A Disability History of the United States is the first book to place the experiences of people with disabilities at the center of the American narrative. In many ways, it’s a familiar telling. In other ways, however, it is a radical repositioning of US history. By doing so, the book casts new light on familiar stories, such as slavery and immigration, while breaking ground about the ties between nativism and oralism in the late nineteenth century and the role of ableism in the development of democracy. A Disability History of the United States pulls from primary-source documents and social histories to retell American history through the eyes, words, and impressions of the people who lived it. As historian and disability scholar Nielsen argues, to understand disability history isn’t to narrowly focus on a series of individual triumphs but rather to examine mass movements and pivotal daily events through the lens of varied experiences. Throughout the book, Nielsen deftly illustrates how concepts of disability have deeply shaped the American experience—from deciding who was allowed to immigrate to establishing labor laws and justifying slavery and gender discrimination. Included are absorbing—at times horrific—narratives of blinded slaves being thrown overboard and women being involuntarily sterilized, as well as triumphant accounts of disabled miners organizing strikes and disability rights activists picketing Washington. Engrossing and profound, A Disability History of the United States fundamentally reinterprets how we view our nation’s past: from a stifling master narrative to a shared history that encompasses us all.

Publisher Description

Prologue -- The trailblazers -- The garment workers -- The mill workers -- The revolutionaries -- The miners -- The harvesters -- The cleaners -- The freedom fighters -- The movers -- The metalworkers -- The disabled workers -- The sex workers -- The prisoners -- Epilogue.

With one of the weakest economies in the nation and a college attendance level lowest among the states, West Virginia has recently concentrated resources on combating its isolation from eastern markets and improving the quality of its public schools. The authors explore how West Virginians cope with these problems-compounded by the state's relatively high rates of occupational injury, teenage pregnancy, maternal health problems, heart disease, lung disease, and cancer-and how they choose to govern and be governed while seeking solutions. The authors argue that West Virginia's political system is affected by institutional rules, roles, and processes conditioned by the availability of economic resources. They examine the state's historical, political, judicial, and cultural practices, illuminating the policy consequences of limited institutional capacity on the economy, education, the environment, and healthcare. All four of the authors are at West Virginia University. Richard A. Brisbin Jr. is an associate professor of political science and the author of Justice Antonin Scalia and the Conservative Revival. Robert Jay Dilger is director of the Institute for Public Affairs and a professor of political science. His works include West Virginia in the 1990s: Opportunities for Economic Progress. Allan S. Hammock, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, is the coeditor of West Virginia Policy Issues. Christopher Z. Mooney is an assistant professor of political science and the coauthor of Bootstrapping: A Nonparametric Approach to Statistical Inference.

China is fast becoming a true rival of the United States, and in this surprising, convincing book, two major foreign policy thinkers delve into the perilous consequences of this new dynamic.