The Great Cowboy Strike: Bullets, Ballots & Class Conflicts in the American West

(Hardback)

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Although later made an icon of rugged individualism, the American cowboy was a grossly exploited and underpaid seasonal worker, who waged a series of militant strikes in the generally isolated and neglected corners of the Old West. Mark Lause examines those neglected labour conflicts, couching them in the context of the bitter and violent range wars that broke out periodically across the region, and locating both among the political insurgencies endemic to the American West in the so-called Gilded Age.

Reviews

On Free Labor: Historian Lause (Univ. of Cincinnati)significantly helps expand knowledge of the US labor movement in the period upto, during, and immediately after the Civil War. Highly recommended. * Choice *
On Free Labor: Lause's book presents an impressive array oforiginal scholarship. The immense detail he provides on little-known aspects ofthe Civil War-era labour movement will prove especially valuable as a resourceto future researchers. . . . by joining the history of the labour movement andthe history of the war, Lause has filled a long-neglected gap in the literatureon the mid-19th-century United States. * Labour/ Le Travail *
On Free Labor: A major contribution in tying together the disparatelabor movements throughout the United States in the Civil War years and inshowing the continued strength of antebellum labor radicalism tied toabolition. -- Gerald Friedman, author of Reigniting the Labor Movement: Restoring Means to Ends in a Democratic Labor Movement
On Free Labor: Lause's study grapples withan almost infinite number of organizations, crafts, tactics, and settings. He focuses not only upon widely known leaders and theoreticians, but resurrects ordinary workers who struggled on the battlefield and the picket line. His ability to follow individuals from union organizations to the battlefield frankly made my jaw drop. -- Adam Tuchinsky, author of Horace Greeley's New-York Tribune: Civil War Era-Socialism and the Crisis of Free Labor
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: In this study of an obscure but important group of radicals, Lause includes cameos of fascinating figures largely ignored in standard accounts as well as coverage of battles beyond the frame of nearly all Civil War texts. Future work will have to reckon with this marvelous study. -- Bruce Laurie, author of Beyond Garrison: Antislavery and Social Reform
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: This incredible work broadens understanding of the Civil War in the West and expands historical knowledge about the Native American contributions to the war effort. It will appeal to any Civil War historian and those interested in Native American or military history. -- Eugene H. Berwanger, author of The Frontier against Slavery: Western Anti-Negro Prejudice and the Slavery Extension Controversy
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: This heroic story is brilliantly told. * Counterpunch.org *
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: An important contribution to the literature of the diplomatic aspects of the Civil War. * NYMAS Review *
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: Recommended. * Choice *
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: Engrossing. * Monthly Review *
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: A necessary read. * Against the Current *
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: A concise and thought-provoking description of events throughout the Civil War era in a region ignored first by contemporary officials and later by historians caught up in the war in the East. * American Historical Review *
On Race and Radicalism in the Union Army: A bold, eye-opening study that lays bare the multiple struggles that underlay the Civil War west of the Mississippi. Sophisticated and startling. * Arkansas Historical Quarterly *
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: Dispelling the mysticism and self-aggrandizement of fraternal orders in antebellum America, Mark A. Lause successfully removes the Panjandrum from the panorama of American secret societies. The result is a careful examination of the consequence of secret societies and their place in shaping Americas national identity on the eve of the Civil War. -- Michael A. Halleran, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Freemasonry in the American Civil War
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: A fascinating and provocative study that illuminates the history of the Civil War era by probing the relationship between political secret societies and social radicalism in Europe and antebellum reform and sectional crisis in the United States. This book will be a tremendous resource of information for scholars, and it is one of the most genuinely original works that I have ever read. -- Robert E. May, author of Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War Readers will gain a richly layered understanding of political paths not taken, and of a fertile transatlantic political word full of people with great imagination and hope for the future. * Indiana Magazine of History *
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: Lause admirably demonstrates that a variety of voluntary organizations were active participants in antebellum America's political and racial struggles. . . . an impressive command of the intricate details ofthe many societies. * Nova Religio *
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: A well-researched, fascinating look at an often overlooked part of antebellum America that proves that sometimes conspiracy theories are legitimate. * Blue & Gray Magazine *
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: A page-turning secret society history based on solid research and accuracy. * Southern Historian *
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: A brilliant study of the transnational forces and structures that framed the origins of the Civil War. * The Historian *
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: Recommended. * Choice *
On Free Spirits: Opens a door between works that consider spiritualism as a purely religious phenomenon and works that deal with the history of the reform movements of the time in purely political or economic terms. By developing this thesis, Lause shows how limited previous treatments of progressive reform have been. -- John B. Buescher, author of The Remarkable Life of John Murray Spear: Agitator for the Spirit Land
On Free Spirits: In Free Spirits, Mark A. Lause considers spiritualism as a political and cultural force in Civil War era America. Lause reveals the scope, spread, and influence of the movement, both in its links to reformist causes and its ability to amplify previously marginalized voices. Rooting spiritualism's appeal in the crises of the time, Lause considers how spiritualist influences, through the distillation of the war, forced reassessments of the question of Radical Republicanism and radicalism in general. He also delves into unexplored areas such as the movement's role in Lincoln's reelection and the relationship between Native Americans and spiritualists. An ambitious reappraisal by an acclaimed Civil War historian, Free Spirits shines new light on American faith and progressivism at a pivotal point in the nation's history. There is virtually no scholarship on the influence and counter-influence of spiritualism and politics. The fresh insights on Lincoln, who is generally protected from any real alliance with spiritualism by virtue of his 'difficult' wife, is a great contribution, as are the messages from the southern dead. -- Cathy Gutierrez, author of Plato's Ghost: Spiritualism in the American Renaissance
On Young America: Mark Lause combines in Young America more insight about the land reformers and 'workie' radicals, their ideas and their impact upon the nation and the new Republican Party, than all previous works on them together. Move over, Chants Democratic. This is the new standard. -- Paul Buhle
On Young America: Lause once again does a great job of showing the depth of political currents during this period. He demonstrates the link between antebellum land reform ideals and the rise of post-bellum radicalism, and carries the political history of period beyond the constraints of sectional strife. * Left History *
On Young America: His method of tracing links between apparently distinct movements has the potential to alter conventional assumptions about nineteenth-century politics and reform. His book is welcome invitation to look at the landscape afresh ... Lause makes a sound case for the progressive character of these ideals, points out subsequent developments that consigned those ideals to obscurity, and explains why they have been disregarded. * Journal of American History *
On Young America: Recommended. -- Choice
On Free Labor: In his book Free Labor, Mark Lause has answered so many questions about how the trade union movement and free labor advocates participated in the American Civil War and navigated its sea changes. He demonstrates how in the words of one Iowa harness maker, the war 'was a great labor movement.' As the history of ideology, Lause shows how the malleable idea of free labor served as the aspiration of slaves and other workers as well. As social history, the book serves as an important bridge to connect the extensive literature on laborers in the early American republic to that on post-war railroad unions. Lause shows how trade union proponents in skilled trades went to war in leadership positions and battle in the Federal Union army. At home, during the war, working men and women continued to press for shorter working hours and wages to keep up with the rising prices that the war produced. He identifies how working people fared and pushed for reforms during the four critical war years. By analyzing the digitized newspaper collections, Lause has found the many lost pockets of strike activity, such as the great slave strike, and he documents which strikes won and which lost. From the navy yards to the print shops, collective action continued during the war. This book contains treasures. -- Lea S. VanderVelde, author of Redemption Songs: Suing for Freedom before Dred Scott
On A Secret Society History of the Civil War: A challenging look at the reality of Civil War-era secret societies. This work opens up enormous pos

Author Bio

Mark A. Lause is a professor of history at the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Most of his work explores and documents the economic, social, and political possibilities that came clearly into focus roughly around the time of the American Civil War, often approaching the subject from neglected directionsthe contemporary working-class movements, land reform, secret societies, and third-party efforts, as well as bohemianism and spiritualism.