Disruption in Detroit: Autoworkers and the Elusive Postwar Boom (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780252042010)

It is a bedrock American belief: the 1950s were a golden age of prosperity for autoworkers. Flush with high wages and enjoying the benefits of generous union contracts, these workers became the backbone of a thriving blue-collar middle class. It is also a myth. Daniel J. Clark began by interviewing dozens of former autoworkers in the Detroit area and found a different story--one of economic insecurity caused by frequent layoffs, unrealized contract provisions, and indispensable second jobs. Disruption in Detroit is a vivid portrait of workers and an industry that experienced anything but stable prosperity. As Clark reveals, the myths--whether of rising incomes or hard-nosed union bargaining success--came later. In the 1950s, ordinary autoworkers, union leaders, and auto company executives recognized that although jobs in their industry paid high wages, they were far from steady and often impossible to find.

Author: Daniel J. Clark
ISBN-10: 0252042018
ISBN-13: 9780252042010
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 11/01/2018
Pages: 266
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 04/01/2019