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Loading... Mother Jones: One Woman's Fight for Laborby Betsy Harvey Kraft
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  Kathdavis54 | Nov 17, 2011 |   She lost her husband and all four children to Yellow Fever in Memphis in 1867. She lived through the Great Chicago Fire, and ended up working tirelessly for the rights of common laborers. An interesting book, it does not bring the reader especially close to the personal Mary Harris, and the information is presented quickly and is rather confusing. The magazine, "Mother Jones" was created after she died and was named for her. Currently, the magazine is described as, "A bimonthly magazine of investigative journalism that exposes the evils of the corporate world, the government, and the mainstream media." Book includes an index and further notes. (  ) kthomp25 | Apr 24, 2010 |
Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September 1995 (Vol. 49, No. 1)) I'm not a humanitarian," Mother Jones once said, "I'm a hell-raiser." Kraft traces the hell-raiser's life from her early poverty-stricken days in Ireland and then as a young wife and mother in Tennessee, describing how Jones blossomed into a spokesperson and agitator for labor in the 1870s and continued as the scourge of management all over the country, from Colorado to Chicago to West Virginia, until her death in 1930. The book is affectionate but not adulatory, admitting that Jones sometimes hyperbolized to the point of lying and that she adored the limelight she often found herself in. A useful overview of some of the hottest labor issues and most famous strikes in U.S. history, the book also makes it quite clear how few actual gains the labor movement made despite Mother Jones' leadership. While there's not a lot of sense of Mother Jones as a person here, kids reading this will get a better understanding of the grinding and dangerous working conditions that supported American prosperity. A few explanatory notes, a brief mention of some sources, and an index are included; black-and-white period photographs, engravings, and newspaper clippings are scattered throughout. R--Recommended. (c) Copyright 1995, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1995, Clarion, 116p; illus. with photographs, $16.95. Grades 6-9. AwardsNotable Lists
Mary Harris, later known as Mother Jones, was born in Ireland in 1830 and immigrated to the United States as a young woman. With prodigious energy and a gift for oratory, she became one of America's most influential union organizers. Looking frail and grandmotherly in her prim black dress, steel-rimmed glasses, and white hair, this tiny, indomitable woman gave stirring speeches urging workers to stand up for their rights, bullied government officials, and fearlessly confronted business leaders. Betsy Harvey Kraft's clear, meticulously researched text introduces an important figure in American social history to a new generation. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)331.88Social sciences Economics Labor economics Labour Unions, labour-management bargaining and disputes Labor unions and other organizationsLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (2.75)
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Wikipedia in English
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This book is meant for children, but I find it to be a very huge volume for a child. I found the book to be a bit too big and detailed. If I used this in a classroom, I would use only certain chapters at a time to add stories found in textbooks.
Mother Jones will come up in many units in a Social Studies class. She is a big part of the labor movement and women's history. This was not my favorite account of her, but it is a useful text to have on hand to enrich units. (