Making a New Deal
Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919–1939

Examines how ordinary factory workers became unionists and national political participants by the mid-1930s.

Lizabeth Cohen (Author)

9781107431799, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 November 2014

566 pages, 37 b/w illus.
21.5 x 13.8 x 2.7 cm, 0.79 kg

Review of previous edition: 'At every step the argument is developed in a sophisticated way … Making a New Deal constitutes a major achievement.' Julia Greene, Journal of American History

This book examines how it was possible and what it meant for ordinary factory workers to become effective unionists and national political participants by the mid-1930s. We follow Chicago workers as they make choices about whether to attend ethnic benefit society meetings or to go to the movies, whether to shop in local neighborhood stores or patronize the new A & P. As they made daily decisions like these, they declared their loyalty in ways that would ultimately have political significance. When the depression worsened in the 1930s, workers adopted new ideological perspectives and overcame longstanding divisions among themselves to mount new kinds of collective action. Chicago workers' experiences all converged to make them into New Deal Democrats and CIO unionists. First printed in 1990, Making a New Deal has become an established classic in American history. The second edition includes a new preface by Lizabeth Cohen.

Preface
Introduction
1. Living and working in Chicago in 1919
2. Ethnicity in the New Era
3. Encountering mass culture
4. Contested loyalty at the workplace
5. Adrift in the Great Depression
6. Workers make a New Deal
7. Becoming a union rank and file
8. Workers' common ground
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]