From the jaws of victory : the triumph and tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the farm worker movement / Matt Garcia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

García, Matt.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labor leaders--United States--Biography.

Labor leaders.

Migrant agricultural laborers--Labor unions--United States--History.

Migrant agricultural laborers.

United Farm Workers--History.

United Farm Workers.

Chavez, Cesar, 1927-1993.

Chavez, Cesar.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement is the most comprehensive history ever written on the meteoric rise and precipitous decline of the United Farm Workers, the most successful farm labor union in United States history. Based on little-known sources and one-of-a-kind oral histories with many veterans of the farm worker movement, this book revises much of what we know about the UFW. Matt Garcia's gripping account of the expansion of the union's grape boycott reveals how the boycott, which UFW leader Cesar Chavez initially resisted, became the defining feature of the movement and drove the growers to sign labor contracts in 1970. Garcia vividly relates how, as the union expanded and the boycott spread across the United States, Canada, and Europe, Chavez found it more difficult to organize workers and fend off rival unions. Ultimately, the union was a victim of its own success and Chavez's growing instability.From the Jaws of Victory delves deeply into Chavez's attitudes and beliefs, and how they changed over time. Garcia also presents in-depth studies of other leaders in the UFW, including Gilbert Padilla, Marshall Ganz, Dolores Huerta, and Jerry Cohen. He introduces figures such as the co-coordinator of the boycott, Jerry Brown; the undisputed leader of the international boycott, Elaine Elinson; and Harry Kubo, the Japanese American farmer who led a successful campaign against the UFW in the mid-1970s.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

One. Birth of a Movement

Two. Capitalism in Reverse

Three. Workers of the World, Unite!

Four. Stuck in the Middle

Five. A Bitter Harvest

Six. Busy Dying

Seven. Rotting from the Inside Out

Eight. Some Were More Equal Than Others

Epilogue: Beyond the Legend

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613896551

9781283584104

1283584107

9780520953666

0520953665

OCLC:

809910946