SHIFT HAPPENS

A chronicle of the area comprising the present-day U.S. beginning in 1492 and told through the history of the labor movement.

Starting with Christopher Columbus—who “fanboyed [Marco] Polo hard” and set out in search of Asia—and moving forward to the union strikes of 2023, Mann explores the often oppressive, abusive, and bloody history of labor conditions and the merciless rise of capitalism with wit, snark, and comprehensive context. Taking a linear approach and covering colonization, slavery, industrialization, two waves of Red Scares, economic depressions, and neoliberalism, the text shows how difficult the fight for workers’ rights has been and how capitalism has depended on oppression. Highlighting incidents that aren’t often taught in schools (such as the Thibodaux Massacre of 1887 in Louisiana and the 1914 Ludlow Massacre in Colorado), Mann explains how government agencies were often employed to restrain and even kill workers who were fighting for their rights and how narratives of union corruption have been utilized to breed distrust. Readers learn that white male workers benefited most often from any progress made in assuring better working conditions and pay. The short, engaging chapters keep the narrative moving along at a quick clip, and the conversational tone makes this a compelling reading that celebrates the ways unions have saved lives.

Riveting, enlightening, infuriating, and timely: compulsory reading.