DC Public Library System

Out of the jungle, Jimmy Hoffa and the remaking of the American working class, Thaddeus Russell

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-263) and index

individual biography

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Out of the jungle

bibliography

47013162

Thaddeus Russell

"In Out of the Jungle, historian Thaddeus Russell gives us an account of Jimmy Hoffa's life and times, much of it previously untold. Russell argues that Hoffa was compelled by a variety of social forces to place the economic interests of his union members over broad ideological concerns. The most important of those forces was the demonstrated desire of ordinary Teamsters to improve their material lives. "What do you hire us for," he famously asked a meeting of truck drivers, "if not to sell your labor at the highest buck we can get?" He responded to the rank-and-file members' demands as did none of his contemporaries in the labor movement, seeking financial gain with the mercilessness that made him renowned and feared."

Jimmy Hoffa and the remaking of the American working class

"Russell shows how Hoffa's ruthless attitudes evolved over his career. Beginning in the small Indiana coal-mining towns where he was born and raised, continuing into Depression-era and wartime Detroit, and then across the country after the war when Hoffa gained national notoriety, Russell places his life and career in historical perspective. The author presents new interpretations of how the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and Robert F. Kennedy's crusade against organized crime affected not only Hoffa and the Teamsters but also the American labor movement as a whole."--Jacket

American soil -- Jungle unionism -- The limits of brotherhood -- The wages of war -- The price of peace -- A new man of power -- The making of a "labor boss" -- Jungle politics -- The enemy within -- Remaking the American working class -- Crucifixion of an antichrist -- Epilogue : resurrection