Doing History from the Bottom Up: On E.P. Thompson, Howard Zinn, and Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below

by Staughton Lynd

Overview

Reflections on the crucial importance of including the perspectives of the marginalized and the non-elite in our historical accounts.

In the 1960s, historians on both sides of the Atlantic began to challenge the assumptions of their colleagues and push for an understanding of history “from below.” In this collection of writings, Staughton Lynd, one of the pioneers of this approach, laments the passing of fellow luminaries David Montgomery, E.P. Thompson, Alfred Young, and Howard Zinn; offers an account of the decline of trade unionism based on the narratives of workers and his efforts as a lawyer to assist them; and makes the case that contemporary academics and activists alike should take more seriously the stories and perspectives of Native Americans, slaves, rank-and-file workers, and other still-too-frequently marginalized voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608464531
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	06/04/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	202
File size:	819 KB

About the Author

Staughton Lynd received a BA from Harvard, an MA and PhD from Columbia, and a JD from the University of Chicago. He taught American history at Spelman College in Atlanta, where one of his students was the future Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker, and at Yale University. Staughton served as director of Freedom Schools in the Mississippi Summer Project of 1964, and has written or edited numerous books.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Preface and Acknowledgments

Part I. Mentors and Exemplars

Introduction

E.P. Thompson: In Memoriam

Edward Thompson's Warrens

Howard Zinn

The Ex-Bombardier

Overcoming Racism

A People’s History

Working-Class Self-Activity

Part II. Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below

Introduction

Guerrilla History in Gary

“Your Dog Don't Bark No More”

The Possibility of Radicalism in the Early 1930s: The Case of Steel

Local 1330 v. U.S. Steel

“We Are All We’ve Got”: Building a Retiree Movement in Youngstown, Ohio

Solidarity Unionism

Conclusion: “We Are All Leaders”

Afterword

Index