Catherwood LibraryILR School

Timothy J. Minchin

This is a concise yet wide-ranging and accessible synthesis of the experience of southern workers between World War II and the present. Linking his discussion to important debates in the field of southern history today, Timothy Minchin brings the story of southern labor up to date and places the workers' own experiences in the forefront. He considers the central question of whether the modern South is still distinctive, arguing that lower wages, lower rates of unionization, and a legacy of racial segregation continues to set the region apart. Drawing on a broad knowledge of primary sources and his own extensive archive of more than two hundred interviews with southern workers, Minchin offers an overview of the past seventy years of southern labor history in combination with a lively and intimate sense of the human experience. His oral histories include men and women, both black and white, who offer their insights not just on the workplace but also on their living conditions, political activities, and race relations. [from dust jacket]