Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits

Grace Palladino is the Codirector of The Samuel Gompers Papers at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also the author of Teenagers: An American History; Dreams of Dignity, Workers of Vision: A History of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; and Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania.

Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits gives us a valuable institutional look at the strengths and limitations of craft union autonomy. From a contemporary perspective it is a look at the real problems inherent in 'changing to organize,' a slogan clearly identified with the current debate over labor's future. For this reason it is an important book.(Labor Studies Journal) Throughout its history, various unions have left the BCTD [Building & Construction Trades Department] over jurisdictional and other disputes.... Institutional histories are difficult to write; it's easy to get caught up in personalities or the spider web of intrigue and behind the scenes details. Pallidino, however, handles this with grace and an over-arching view of the story. Anyone who has spent time on a construction site or a newly elected local trades officer would learn much from this very readable volume.(Grand Prairie Union News)