organizing in novels (was best organizing books)

[colist at comm-org.wisc.edu]

[ed:  Dwight adds to the conversation.]

From: Dwight Hines <dwight.hines at gmail.com>

Don't forget "Night Riders", by Robert Penn Warren.
They really existed.  

Remember, organizations were not always positive, at least if you look
at what they evolved into.

"Women's Temperance Union" became a vigilante group, as did the
Southern Councils in the United States.

dh

>
> [ed:  Lee invites us to expand the conversation on good organizing 
> books.]
>
> From: "Lee Winkelman" <lee at veatch.org>
>
> OK, these aren't exactly organizing books.  Can we start a new
> thread about novels and mystery stories with organizing as a theme or
> backdrop?
> I am nearing the end of "Smoke Filled Rooms", the second book in the 
> Smokey
> Dalton series by Kris Nelscott, and I am loving it.  Smokey is an
> African-American detective in the late sixties.  The first book, 
> "Dangerous
> Road", was set in Memphis in 1968, with Smokey providing security for
> demonstrations in support of the sanitation workers strike (needless 
> to say,
> his efforts did not prevent the assassination of MLK).  The second 
> book is
> set among the events surrounding the Democratic convention in 
> Chicago.  The
> books deal explicitly with race and racism and the movements for social
> change at the time.  Historical characters (most notably MLK) put in 
> cameo
> appearances.  The books are very entertaining, and I look forward to 
> reading
> the later books in the series.
>
> I also recommend "The Rackets" by Thomas Kelly, a sort-of thriller set in
> the world of NYC politics and union movement.  The hero of the novel 
> starts
> as a key advisor to the mayor and ends up running as a reform president
> of a Teamsters local.  Another quick, good read.
>
>
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