| The Newark Teacher Strikes Winner of the Richard P. McCormick 2003 Prize for Scholarly Publication, given by the New Jersey Historical Commission Through these oral histories, Golin examines the hopes of the teachers as they picketed, risking arrest and imprisonment. Why did they strike? How did the union represent them? How did their action--and incarceration--change them? Did they continue to teach in impoverished schools? Golin also discusses the tensions arising during that period. These include differences in attitudes toward unions among black, Jewish, and Italian teachers; different organizing strategies of men and women; and conflict between teachers' professional and working-class identities. The first part of the book sets the stage by exploring the experience of teachers in Newark from World War II to the 1970 strike. After covering both strikes, Golin brings the story up to 1995 in the epilogue, which traces the connection between educational reform and union democracy. Teacher Power enhances our understanding of what has worked and what hasn't worked in attempts at reforming urban schools. Equally importantly, the teachers' vivid words and the author's perceptive analysis enables us to view the struggles of not just Newark, but the entire United States during a turbulent time. STEVE GOLIN is a professor of history at Bloomfield College, New Jersey. He is the author of The Fragile Bridge: The Paterson Silk Strike, 1913 , which won the 1990 Richard P. McCormick Prize of the New Jersey Historical Commission. |