Latest / New Books in American Studies
Gordon Simmons, "Mutiny in the Mountains: West Virginia Public Workers, 1969-2019" (PM Press, 2026)
Former chief steward and union organizer Gordon Simmons joins Michael Stauch to discuss his new book on the history of labor struggles by public sector workers in West Virginia since 1969. With an emphasis on rank-and-file rebellion expressed through wildcat strikes and other job actions, Simmons provides a sweeping account of the past that has rich lessons for the present.
Highlights include:
● A discussion of wildcat strikes and why West Virginia’s public sector workers waged them, again and again, in this period;
● How a teacher wearing blue jeans sparked a battle over expressions of the…
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