More than any other labor victory of the 1930s, the emergence of the Steel Workers' Organizing Committee symbolized the rise of organized labor to a position of power in the United States. Yet, as the contributors to this volume demonstrate, the unionization of the steel industry, and most notably the role of SWOC and Philip Murray in that process, has received far less attention than it deserves. Beginning with a discussion of why the unionization of steel has been relatively neglected by labor historians, the contributors to this volume analyze early organizing efforts in steel, the major transformations wrought and felt by the union, and the character of the union members and leaders. Critical throughout is discussion of the role of Philip Murray in shaping the United Steelworkers of America into one of the premier economic, social, and political institution of the war years and beyond. Contributors: David Brody, Malvyn Dubovsky, Ronald L. Filippelli, Mark McColloch, Ronald W. Schatz

      "A model study, one of two or three genuinely indispensable books         on that momentous movement historians know as the Great Migration. Peter         Gottlieb shatters the received portrait of southern migrants as bewildered,         premodern folk, 'utterly unprepared' for the complexities of urban life.         African Americans in his account emerge as complex, creative agents, exploiting         old solidarities and building new ones, transforming the urban landscape         even as it transformed them." -- James Campbell, Northwestern University       "Engagingly written and well organized. . . . A major addition to         the fields of Afro-American, urban, and working-class history." --         Howard N. Rabinowitz, Georgia Historical Quarterly       "Gottlieb uses oral histories, corporate records, and primary and         secondary scholarship to present a useful picture of an important part         of the Great Migration that followed World War I." -- George Lipsitz,         Choice       "Sensitive and yet also incisive. . . . clear and often compelling.         An outstanding study." -- James R. Barrett, Journal of American         Ethnic History       Publication of this work was supported in part by a grant from the         Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.