

The Southern Key
Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s
Author: Michael Goldfield
Narrator: Tom Parks
Unabridged: 19 hr 45 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 05/19/2020
Categories: Nonfiction, History, Us History, Political Science, Political Ideologies
Synopsis
In The Southern Key, Goldfield charts the rise of labor activism in each and then examines how and why labor organizers struggled so mightily in the region. Drawing from meticulous and unprecedented archival material and detailed data on four core industries—textiles, timber, coal mining, and steel—he argues that much of what is important in American politics and society today was largely shaped by the successes and failures of the labor movements of the 1930s and 1940s. Most notably, Goldfield shows how the broad-based failure to organize the South during this period made it what it is today. He contends that this early defeat for labor unions not only contributed to the exploitation of race and right-wing demagoguery in the South, but has also led to a decline in unionization, growing economic inequality, and an inability to confront and dismantle white supremacy throughout the US.