Of all the sweeping US labor histories out there, Jeremy Brecher’s Strike! is the best one I’ve read. It balances dramatic story-telling with political analysis in exactly the right proportion. It carries you through all of the major periods of mass strikes, including the late 19^th century insurrectionary strikes, the post-World War I and II labor uprisings, the 1930s general strikes and sit-down strikes, and the wildcats of the 1960s and 70s. In between these eruptions he teases out the longer trends that tie this history together.

Also unique for a labor book of this scope, Brecher tells the story more from the vantage point of the rank-and-file. The decisions and actions of union leaders are noted where they are important, but Brecher avoids the lionization of union officials that pollutes so much otherwise decent labor history. He repeatedly elevates the voices of the rank-and-file struggling without or even against their formal leaders. This is not only a political choice but is also good and accurate historiography, as unions in the US have always been riven with these tensions and divisions which more often than not gets glossed over.