The Golden Sword

?The Rocky Mountain labor wars, c. 1890-1920, punctured the rural populism of the area with militant unionism and violence. . . . The last word on flaming Colorado," as it was once called, is that of Neuschatz; he provides an in-depth analysis of the region as an economic zone penetrated by outside financial pressures, overstressed by the havoc price changes of a single commodity played in the labor war, and the disaster of falling demand for minerals in a labor-scarce local society tied to a single industry. Labor, under these circumstances, never had time to develop normally; few of the theories about union growth and developmemt, or behavior, fit this case. As a work of historical sociology, it serves both disciplines with good narrative and a conclusion that examines the sociological literature on unions with perception and timeliness. Good for all levels of readers, and a must for labor and western US history specialists.?-Choice