The Gritty Berkshires: A Peoples History
The Gritty Berkshires: A Peoples History
Couldn't load pickup availability
Recipient of the 2020 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Award’s Gold Medal for Best Regional Non-fiction Book, U.S. Northeast Region.
by Maynard Seider
As The Gritty Berkshires makes clear, Massachusetts’ westernmost county is not just art museums, music festivals and beautiful scenery. For generations of working class families who have lived in the northern part of this county, their reality looks more like Rust Belt America.
Maynard Seider, an activist sociologist who has taught and researched in the area for more than three decades, places the history of the North Berkshire region in the context of U.S. and global history. Through the use of oral histories, union archives, newspaper accounts and participant observation, the author focuses on the 1,000 men who built the nation’s longest railroad tunnel, the thousands of men and women who worked in its textile mills and electronics factories and who struck, built worker co-ops, and community coalitions to improve their daily lives.
In this history, we learn how the Berkshires offer insight into so many crucial aspects of the American experience. Moving from the early 1800s to the present, Seider weaves a narrative that details the area’s vibrant immigrant history, slavery’s role in its textile industry, the battle for national unions and the ideological struggles with corporate elites over who best speaks for the community. Enriched by dozens of photographs, these stories focus on the voices of ordinary people as they often do extraordinary things.
Seider concludes his book by considering the question of “What’s next?” through a case study of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). These brick buildings which housed generations of blue and white collar workers until 1986 now attract tourists to the country’s largest contemporary art collection. Yet the unanswered question remains, can a tourist-service economy provide a meaningful and economically sustainable life for its residents?
The Gritty Berkshires’ last section deals with this question both nationally and locally, exploring diverse responses amidst the nation’s growing inequality, militarism and cutbacks in social services.
Share
made w/ Love & Revolution
How to use
How to use
Shipping
Shipping
You buy it, we ship it as soon as we can. (typically the following business day - we are closed on Mondays) Always within 7 days.
We use USPS only and are able to ship to the landmass currently known as the United States and Internationally via USPS International.
Not all products can ship outside of the US. For example, no bone or animal products can ship outside of the US.
For questions, email info@wildsoulriver.com
Disclaimer
Disclaimer
We are not medical professionals. We are tie-dye wearing herbalists. Only a physician can diagnose, treat, and prescribe for illness or disease.
Wild Soul River, LLC (and employees) neither diagnoses nor treats disease. Nor do we prescribe remedies. The human body has the innate power to heal itself. The role of the herbalist in this healing process is to consider the client as a whole person and to consult in collaboration with the client.
Wild Soul River, LLC encourages and advises you to seek professional medical advice regarding any illness or disease they are suffering from. Any concerns about your health and supplementation with herbs or diet should be done in consultation with your physician and a holistic health care provider. It is your responsibility to discuss with your physician possible interactions of herbal supplements and medications. Wild Soul River, LLC does not guarantee a specific outcome or result, individual results may vary. Wild Soul River, LLC is not liable for any possible adverse reactions and side effects of the herbal supplements you decide to take. You must accept ownership and responsibility for your own health; including negative consequences and positive outcomes.
All customers purchasing products from wildsoulriver.com and Wild Soul River, LLC agree to accept full responsibility for any results experienced from using them.
Return policy
Return policy
Wild Soul River upholds the highest standard of quality for each of our products. The quality of all our merchandise will meet or exceed expectations. Every effort is made to ensure your merchandise is shipped in perfect condition.
As a VERY SMALL business, we are unable to accept returns at this time.
We are not responsible for packages lost by USPS or shipping issues once the package has left the United States. We will not refund items that do not arrive due to a local shipping issue. The buyer is responsible for contacting their postal service to track down missing packages that have left the United States.
(updated 12/13/23)
