Grand Master Workman: Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor

(Hardback)

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The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor was the most ambitious and significant labour organization of the Gilded Age. As the charismatic leader of this group, Terence Powderly was America's first nationally known labour leader, the first to achieve a high degree of recognition from working people, industrialists and politicians across the continent. To most Americans, Powderly was the Knights of Labor. Based on an examination of Powderly's voluminous correspondence, this is a critical analysis of Powderly's efforts to oversee the most spectacular experiment in class-wide solidarity ever undertaken. Craig Phelan seeks to paint a sympathetic and probing portrait of a complex figure caught up in the whirlwind of local and national events. He details the challenges and pressures of labour leadership at a time when industrialization was convulsing the nation, and when the layout movement was struggling to build a viable national institution capable of creating a more egalitarian society. The national focus of this study should help to synthesize the numerous community studies written on the Knights and offer fresh perspectives on the ultimate meaning of the organization.

Reviews

Anyone interested in the philosophy and tactics of current community-based workers' campaigns will benefit from revisiting Powderly...-Pennsylvania History
Christians and Chiefs in Zimbabwe is an exceptional book. It is both methodologically innovative and lucidly written....David Maxwell has produced an important addition to the growing collection of works on the history of Zimbabwe. Beyond that, academics and both graduate and undergraduate students interested in the history of religion and the history of politics, particularly at the local level, will find this work an insightful contribution to their fields of inquiry.-Internantional Journal of African History Studies
I admire this book, Phelan's loving attention to detail, and his challenges to long-held stereotypes...it points us in the right direction for critically reassessing Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor.-H-Net Reviews
Phelan deftly gives context to many of the decisions for which Powderly has been criticized during the Great Upheaval. it points us in the right direction for critically reassessing Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor. Phelan asks incisive and probing questions. Phelan challenges us to stop demonizing a single man and take a harder look at systems of capitalist accumulation.-EH.NET
This important book brings a much needed, honest, and very well-researched appraisal of Powderly's strengths and weaknesses.-American Historical Review
"Anyone interested in the philosophy and tactics of current community-based workers' campaigns will benefit from revisiting Powderly..."-Pennsylvania History
"I admire this book, Phelan's loving attention to detail, and his challenges to long-held stereotypes...it points us in the right direction for critically reassessing Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor."-H-Net Reviews
"Phelan deftly gives context to many of the decisions for which Powderly has been criticized during the Great Upheaval. it points us in the right direction for critically reassessing Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor. Phelan asks incisive and probing questions. Phelan challenges us to stop demonizing a single man and take a harder look at systems of capitalist accumulation."-EH.NET
"This important book brings a much needed, honest, and very well-researched appraisal of Powderly's strengths and weaknesses."-American Historical Review
"Christians and Chiefs in Zimbabwe is an exceptional book. It is both methodologically innovative and lucidly written....David Maxwell has produced an important addition to the growing collection of works on the history of Zimbabwe. Beyond that, academics and both graduate and undergraduate students interested in the history of religion and the history of politics, particularly at the local level, will find this work an insightful contribution to their fields of inquiry."-Internantional Journal of African History Studies

Author Bio

CRAIG PHELAN is Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Wales, Swansea. His other works include Divided Loyalties: the Public and Private Life of Labor Leader John Mitchell (1994) and William Green: Biography of a Labor Leader (1989).