Community Reviews
I want to thank the Historical Fictionistas for nominating this book as a potential March Group Read, which is where I discovered this gem. While it wasn’t the book that the group eventually selected as their March Group Read, it was the one that I chose to add to my to-read shelf.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline so I won’t repeat it here. What the book summary doesn’t reveal is the absolute callousness and despicable greediness of the mine owners and their management. The day-to-day reality of a copper miner and their family was absolutely horrible. They were paid slave wages, the company overcharged them for everything to the point where a miner’s wages were never enough to house and feed themselves (unmarried minors) or any family (spouse or kids). The company never provided safety gear (minors had to purchase their own) and there were absolutely no safety guidelines that were ever practiced because it usually interfered with increasing productivity or profits. When a minor died or was injured there were no death benefits, workers compensation or disability and as soon as the minor or his family were unable to pay the rent on the company house they were renting, they were thrown out.
The first half of the story revolved around the daily strike parades, which began within the first 15% of the story. The strike revealed the underhanded actions and behaviors of the “company men” at the behest of the mine management and shareholders. There were the beatings of the “union men,” the threats and sanctions to local businesses (who were renting company building for their businesses) who sold or assisted the strikers. There were even the veiled threats and order to the Governor if he didn’t send the National Guard to beat back the strikers during their daily parades. There were also the threats and orders to the General of the Guard if he didn’t order the troops to beat down the strikers and their families. There is also a secondary storyline about a company spy among the strikers, which was kind of a shocker when it was finally revealed in the second half; I had totally suspected someone else.
Fortunately, the strikers had allies, albeit reluctant ones, in the Governor and the General. Eventually, the Governor called off the Guard to leave and return home, which angered the mine management and shareholders and they simply ramped up their abuse on the strikers and their families by hiring private armies. There was also a photographer who was documenting all of this and working with the daily AP. Eventually, the news reports began to drum up support for the strikers from others around the country.
In the second half of the story, during one of the strike parades, the private armies, hired by mine management, become violent and killed a bunch of strikers. Yet, it’s many of the strikers that got arrested and sent to prison, including Annie. At this point, another secondary storyline is introduced and that is the deterioration of Annie’s marriage. The continued strike gets worse, and the ending is horrific.
This is a story of might over right, authoritarians trampling democracy, oligarchy subjugating the working class. The story reflects that while the copper barons, magnates and their shareholders of the early 20th century certainly got away with a lot of physical abuse towards their employees, they really aren’t all that different than the Fortune 500 CEO’s and their shareholders of the 21st century. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1913 or 2023, large corporations are still making extraordinary, record-breaking profits, extracting as much productivity from their employees as possible while retaliating against those same employees who are joining unions and striking for better working conditions and a living wage. Just like the mine workers of more than a 100yrs ago.
As a third-generation feminist as well as a child of two generations (parents and maternal grandparents) of union members, this story reminded me a little of my “Gammy Jules” and a lot of the stories she used to tell me when I was a child. Gammy Jules, a teacher of more than 40yrs, was a really good storyteller and I can remember hearing her stories of the early teacher strikes. She also talked of the strikes that “Gampy”, a career oil rigger, engaged in against the oil companies, who sounded a lot like the copper company in this book.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline so I won’t repeat it here. What the book summary doesn’t reveal is the absolute callousness and despicable greediness of the mine owners and their management. The day-to-day reality of a copper miner and their family was absolutely horrible. They were paid slave wages, the company overcharged them for everything to the point where a miner’s wages were never enough to house and feed themselves (unmarried minors) or any family (spouse or kids). The company never provided safety gear (minors had to purchase their own) and there were absolutely no safety guidelines that were ever practiced because it usually interfered with increasing productivity or profits. When a minor died or was injured there were no death benefits, workers compensation or disability and as soon as the minor or his family were unable to pay the rent on the company house they were renting, they were thrown out.
The first half of the story revolved around the daily strike parades, which began within the first 15% of the story. The strike revealed the underhanded actions and behaviors of the “company men” at the behest of the mine management and shareholders. There were the beatings of the “union men,” the threats and sanctions to local businesses (who were renting company building for their businesses) who sold or assisted the strikers. There were even the veiled threats and order to the Governor if he didn’t send the National Guard to beat back the strikers during their daily parades. There were also the threats and orders to the General of the Guard if he didn’t order the troops to beat down the strikers and their families. There is also a secondary storyline about a company spy among the strikers, which was kind of a shocker when it was finally revealed in the second half; I had totally suspected someone else.
Fortunately, the strikers had allies, albeit reluctant ones, in the Governor and the General. Eventually, the Governor called off the Guard to leave and return home, which angered the mine management and shareholders and they simply ramped up their abuse on the strikers and their families by hiring private armies. There was also a photographer who was documenting all of this and working with the daily AP. Eventually, the news reports began to drum up support for the strikers from others around the country.
In the second half of the story, during one of the strike parades, the private armies, hired by mine management, become violent and killed a bunch of strikers. Yet, it’s many of the strikers that got arrested and sent to prison, including Annie. At this point, another secondary storyline is introduced and that is the deterioration of Annie’s marriage. The continued strike gets worse, and the ending is horrific.
This is a story of might over right, authoritarians trampling democracy, oligarchy subjugating the working class. The story reflects that while the copper barons, magnates and their shareholders of the early 20th century certainly got away with a lot of physical abuse towards their employees, they really aren’t all that different than the Fortune 500 CEO’s and their shareholders of the 21st century. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1913 or 2023, large corporations are still making extraordinary, record-breaking profits, extracting as much productivity from their employees as possible while retaliating against those same employees who are joining unions and striking for better working conditions and a living wage. Just like the mine workers of more than a 100yrs ago.
As a third-generation feminist as well as a child of two generations (parents and maternal grandparents) of union members, this story reminded me a little of my “Gammy Jules” and a lot of the stories she used to tell me when I was a child. Gammy Jules, a teacher of more than 40yrs, was a really good storyteller and I can remember hearing her stories of the early teacher strikes. She also talked of the strikes that “Gampy”, a career oil rigger, engaged in against the oil companies, who sounded a lot like the copper company in this book.
