Winner of the 2021 Midland Authors Book Award in History
In a time of great inequality and a gutted middle class, the dramatic
story of "the strike heard around the world" is a testament to what
workers can gain when they stand up for their rights.
The tumultuous Flint sit-down strike of 1936-1937 was the birth of the
United Auto Workers, which set the standard for wages in every industry.
Midnight in Vehicle City tells the gripping story of how workers
defeated General Motors, the largest industrial corporation in the
world. Their victory ushered in the golden age of the American middle
class and created a new kind of America, one in which every worker had a
right to a share of the company's wealth. The causes for which the
strikers sat down--collective bargaining, secure retirement, better
wages--enjoyed a half century of success. But now, the middle class is
disappearing and economic inequality is at its highest since before the
New Deal.
Journalist and historian Edward McClelland brings the action-packed
events of the strike back to life--through the voices of those who lived
it. In vivid play-by-plays, McClelland narrates the dramatic scenes
including of the takeovers of GM plants; violent showdowns between
picketers and the police; Michigan governor Frank Murphy's activation of
the National Guard; the actions of the militaristic Women's Emergency
Brigade who carried billy clubs and vowed to protect strikers from
police; and tense negotiations between labor leader John L. Lewis, GM
chairman Alfred P. Sloan, and labor secretary Frances Perkins.
The epic tale of the strike and its lasting legacy shows why the middle
class is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and will
guide our understanding of what we will lose if we don't revive it.
