America's Working Man: Work, Home, and Politics Among Blue Collar Property Owners

by David Halle

Book Overview

Over a period of six years, at factory and warehouse, at the tavern across the road, in their homes and union meetings, on fishing trips and social outings, David Halle talked and listened to workers of an automated chemical plant in New Jersey's industrial heartland. He has emerged with an unusually comprehensive and convincingly realistic picture of blue-collar life in America. Throughout the book, Halle illustrates his analysis with excerpts of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226313662
• ISBN13: 9780226313665
• Release Date: July 1987
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 378 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Amazing Inside Look

This book is a fascinating inside look at a hidden side of the American industrial complex. Having worked in a chemical company for 13 years, I can attest that David Halle's depiction of factory workers is very accurate. I'm amazed he was able to get inside.

Fascinating Insider View

It took David 7 years, as a research project, to "infiltrate" a NJ chemical plant, which is what it took to get the workers to trust him and reveal the secrets of how plants are *really* run. I worked for a chemical company for 13 years (not in a plant) and this book was an eye-opener. But then the behaviors of plant personnel made much more sense. The book helped me understand a very serious issue that went on in one of our plants. This information is very pertinent though may be less current due to increased automation of plant functions. A needed social project that involved a enormous commitment!