Death in the Haymarket - A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that

Zusatztext “Definitive. . . . Green’s dramatic narrative tells a powerful story about injustice! passion! prejudice and fanaticism.” — The Chicago Tribune “Though a number of prominent historians have written about the Haymarket Affair! no one has told the story more thoroughly! incisively and elegantly than Green. . . . He has reconstructed both the context and the events of the Haymarket tragedy with the fine hand of a novelist. The book is rich in plot development and thick characterization! and its interpretations and drama leave the reader both informed and drained.”— The San Diego Union-Tribune “Absorbing. . . .Green . . .brings this tale to vivid life [and] does a wonderful job of delineating the cross currents of labor! capital! politics! and terrorism. . . fascinating and deeply American.”— The Boston Globe “It tells the tale with extraordinary grace. Its simplicity of expression carries an understated dramatic charge that stays with you long after finishing.”— The Nation Informationen zum Autor James Green is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He grew up outside of Chicago and now lives with his family in Somerville, Massachusetts. Klappentext On May 4! 1886! a bomb exploded at a Chicago labor rally! wounding dozens of policemen! seven of whom eventually died. A wave of mass hysteria swept the country! leading to a sensational trial! that culminated in four controversial executions! and dealt a blow to the labor movement from which it would take decades to recover. Historian James Green recounts the rise of the first great labor movement in the wake of the Civil War and brings to life an epic twenty-year struggle for the eight-hour workday. Blending a gripping narrative! outsized characters and a panoramic portrait of a major social movement! Death in the Haymarket is an important addition to the history of American capitalism and a moving story about the class tensions at the heart of Gilded Age America. For Once in Common Front MAY 1, 1865-MAY 1, 1867 THE FIRST OF MAY was by custom a day of hope that marked the coming of spring, a day when children danced and twirled streamers around a Maypole. But in 1865 it was the gloomiest day Chicago had ever seen. For on that occasion "the merry May pole gaily wreathed for the holiday festivities of exuberant life" yielded its place to the "funeral catafalque draped with Death's sad relics." So wrote Abraham Lincoln's friend and ally Joseph Medill in the Chicago Tribune that morning of the day when the multitudes would assemble "to do honor to the great and good King of men," severed from his people when he was "slain so ruthlessly." In the dark hours of the early morning, crowds gathered all along the Illinois Central tracks on the lakeside. A light rain fell as the funeral train entered Chicago that morning; it hissed to a stop at Michigan Avenue and 12th Street, where 36,000 citizens had gathered to meet it. An honor guard loaded the presidential coffin onto an elaborate horse-drawn hearse, and citizens formed in military rank behind it. A group of thirty-six "maidens dressed in white" surrounded the carriage as it passed through an imposing Gothic arch dedicated to the "Martyr for Justice." After each young woman placed a red rose on the president's coffin, the carriage pulled away, followed by the column of Chicagoans who marched four abreast up Michigan Avenue toward the courthouse, where their martyred president's remains would lie in state. The procession grew to 50,000 as it moved slowly up the lakeside. Along the way twice that many people lined the streets. From all over the Northwest they came-by train, in wagons and buggies and on horseback, all united in silent grief. "In the line of march and looking on, sharing something in common," Carl Sandburg wrote, were nati...

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• Autori: James Green, James R. Green
• Editore: Anchor Books USA
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 13.03.2007
• EAN: 9781400033225
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-3322-5
• Pagine: 400
• Dimensioni: 132 mm x 202 mm x 22 mm
• Categorie: Saggistica > Storia > Altro; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Storia