From the Ashes of the Old: American Labor and America's Future

Stanley Aronowitz is the most important (perhaps one of the only) public intellectual of our age. He argues convincingly for a new agenda for the labor movement, one that takes into account not only the interests of the working class, but opens the possibility for injecting new life into the movement by forcing unions to find ways to link its interests with the interests of all Americans. In other words, Aronowitz shows how labor can finally fulfill its promise to be the vanguard of democracy in America. Anyone interested in the future of our democratic enterprise -- be they middle class or working class -- needs to read this book.

Not having read any of Mr. Aronowitz' other books, I came to this one looking for a guide to the history of organized labor and am glad I did. As he points out, labor seems not to exist as far as the media are concerned. Workers appears only in strikes, portrayed as grasping disrupters of business. My interest in organized labor and the plight of the worker came from direct experience in a lock out. Eyes opened by the event, I was eager to put it in perspective and this book was exactly what I was looking for. Things can't go on as they are. Aronowitz rightly points out how both political parties are pro-business, that the conservatives have framed the debate on the economy and labor is confined to a diminished spot with the Democrats, largely taken for granted. If you scratch the surface of material wealth you find discontent with society. The lack of protection for workers; the "temping" of the workforce and the shifting of the costs of benefits to workers from business is spreading like wildfire. Those who never dreamed of associating with organized labor are now having second thoughts. Labor, as Aronowitz points out, must appeal to social issues and working conditions in other countries if it is to survive. This book is a call to take a full place on the stage, a stage set for labor to re-enter from parochialism. Anyone interested in new forms that labor may take and why it should take them should read this book. If you work for a living and wonder about tomorrow, read it.