Devil's Pact: Inside the World of the Teamsters Union

by F.C. Duke Zeller

Book Overview

The story of the controversial Teamsters labor union profiles Jackie Presser and his often questionable dealings; reveals the union's underground history; and discusses its affiliations with such... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155972384X
• ISBN13: 9781559723848
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Carol Publishing Corporation
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

He's self-interested? Of course. So what?

Duke Zeller lived in the center of a maelstrom for 14 years. He uses this memoir to settle scores and put out his version of facts that remain in dispute. I'm puzzled about why other reviewers find these aspects of the book off-putting; this is a book written by a partisan, not a dispassionate history. Zeller's observations about the personalities that enlivened the Teamsters Union during his years of service are colorful and, if you filter for his biases, informative. His relationship with Presser was genuine, a fact even his critics concede. His book affords the reader more insight into Jackie Presser the person than anything else I've read on the topic. Presser, for all his flaws, was a charming rogue who managed to play all sides off against each other right up until his death. For the novice at Teamster history, a person could do worse than reading Steven Brill's "The Teamsters," then Zeller's memoir and then Kenneth Crowe's "Collision: How the Rank and File Took Back the Teamsters." While each author has obvious biases and blind spots, reading the three together provides a pretty good primer on Teamster history from James R. Hoffa through James P. Hoffa.Zeller is also no slouch as a raconteur. In covering his pre-Teamster days, he tells a hilarious story about being chastised by LBJ for bringing Lynda Bird home late from a date back in the days when Zeller was a teenaged Capitol Hill page. His tales about Presser's gold-digger wife also ring true, although again he makes sure to get his licks in and settle some old scores.

More politics of Jackie Presser than anything else.

When begining to read this book, one might think that it is a biography of Presser. However, it is more a consideration of the politics of Presser and the politics that came to characterize the Teamsters over the years. The main problem with this approach is that at times the writing seems superficial and soap opera-esque. It can be rather annoying. In the end, the book is good for a leasure read, but not for a scholarly look at labor institutions. Bob Parks Rockhurst College