The best book about politics ever written for children. --The
Washington Post
50th Anniversary Edition, now in paperback
DO YOU KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE PUSHCART WAR? THE REAL HISTORY?
It's a story of how regular people banded together and, armed with
little more than their brains and good aim, defeated a mighty foe.
Not long ago the streets of New York City were smelly, smoggy, sooty,
and loud. There were so many trucks making deliveries that it might take
an hour for a car to travel a few blocks. People blamed the truck owners
and the truck owners blamed the little wooden pushcarts that traveled
the city selling everything from flowers to hot dogs. Behind closed
doors the truck owners declared war on the pushcart peddlers. Carts were
smashed from Chinatown to Chelsea. The peddlers didn't have money or the
mayor on their side, but that didn't stop them from fighting back. They
used pea shooters to blow tacks into the tires of trucks, they outwitted
the police, and they marched right up to the grilles of those giant
trucks and dared them to drive down their streets. Today, thanks to the
ingenuity of the pushcart peddlers, the streets belong to the
people--and to the pushcarts.
The Pushcart War was first published more than fifty years ago. It has
inspired generations of children and been adapted for television, radio,
and the stage around the world. It was included on School Library
Journal's list of One Hundred Books That Shaped the Twentieth Century,
and its assertion that a committed group of men and women can prevail
against a powerful force is as relevant in the twenty-first century as
it was in 1964.
