BREAD AND ROSES

The American Labor Movement, 1880-1940

Frank Joseph Donnelly

• Publisher: Chiify
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9798905160059
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

**The weekend. The eight-hour day. The end of child labor. A safe workplace and a living wage.** You use them every single day — but do you know who bled to win them? Most history books bury the answer under dry dates and statistics. You're left with a vague sense that "things got better," never understanding the strikes, the sacrifice, and the ordinary men and women who forced America to change. And in an age when workers' rights are under threat again, that gap in your knowledge isn't just frustrating — it leaves you powerless to understand the fight happening right now. **BREAD AND ROSES: The American Labor Movement, 1880–1940** closes that gap. This is the gripping, fast-moving story of how the American labor movement transformed a nation — told not as a textbook, but as a human drama of courage, blood, and triumph. From the locked factory doors of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire to the sit-down strikes that brought General Motors to its knees, you'll witness the labor movement that built the modern middle class. **Inside, you will discover:** * **WHY** the eight-hour day and the weekend exist — and who died to win them * **HOW** the American labor movement defeated the most powerful corporations on Earth * **WHO** the real heroes were — Gompers, Mother Jones, Eugene Debs, and the unnamed thousands * **WHAT** the great strikes — Homestead, Pullman, Lawrence, Flint — teach us about power today * **WHERE** today's fight for workers' dignity began, and where it's heading next This isn't passive history. It's the key to understanding the struggle still shaping your paycheck, your hours, and your rights. To understand America, you must understand the American labor movement. **Scroll up and click "Buy Now" to claim your copy of BREAD AND ROSES today.**

Table of contents

• Author’s Note
• Contents
• Prologue: The Workers' Century
• PART ONE: THE GILDED AGE WORKER (1880-1900)
• PART TWO: THE PROGRESSIVE ERA LABOR MOVEMENT (1900-1917)
• PART THREE: SUPPRESSION AND SURVIVAL (1917-1929)
• PART FOUR: THE NEW DEAL LABOR MOVEMENT (1933-1940)
• PART FIVE: LABOR'S PEOPLE
• PART SIX: LEGACIES
• Epilogue: What the Unions Built
• Acknowledgments
• Selected Bibliography
• About the Author