SANDY POLISHUK reads from her new book _Sticking to the Union: An Oral History of the Life and Times of Julia Ruuttila_ at Elliott Bay Books (101 S. Main St.) on Saturday, November 15 at 4:30 p.m. and on Whidbey Island at the Golden Otter (2nd Street) on Sunday, November 16 at 7 pm
Although married four times, Julia Ruuttila claimed that the love of her life was not a man but a union. From her Industrial Workers of the World origins to the CIO, the International Woodworkers of America, and the ILWU, she stuck to unions throughout her long and vibrant life. A well known labor activist and journalist in the Pacific Northwest, Ruuttila chose the picket sign and the typewriter as her chief weapons. She possessed a tireless passion for workers and their struggles, whether founding a committee to free the last Wobbly prisoner from the Centralia Tragedy, leading the Ladies' Auxiliary of the IWA during an eight-and-a-half month lockout, or coming before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
"A grassroots tour through twentieth-century radical history, Western history, and women's history..." Elinor Langer, author of A Hundred Little Hitlers
"This is a gem...." -- Michael Honey, Harry Bridges Chair of Labor Studies, University of Washington
http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalogue/index.asp?isbn=1403962391
Co-presented with the PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABOR HISTORY ASSOCIATION and HEDGEBROOK.
Based on the reading last night, I highly recommend this book: amazing stories on strikes, lockouts, mid 20th century organizing drives on the Pacific coast of the US, how to raise children not to be snitches......
Eccentric note if you're a Finn-o-phile: Ruutila's last name is from her last and most successful marriage, but there is a long section on the Finnish community around Eugene OR and general "defense of the foreign born."
The book is ORAL HISTORY, oral history, oral history. THat doesn't mean there is no analysis, but it's oral history.
Also the book doesn't officially get released on December 3, but it's not too early to request it at your library or to write a review on Amazon!
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