American Labor History: Fiction

A semi-autobiographical piece, Dorothy Allison fashions an intersectional view of rural southern working class society. Strong thematic focus on abuse and trauma.

A young black girl in Ohio grows into adulthood during the Great Depression.

A young, nerdy son of New Jersey Dominican immigrants contends with seemingly constant tumult, something believed to stem from a Fukú or generational curse upon the family.

Originally published in Esquire as a short story. Christ in Concrete is di Donato's homage to the Italian-American construction workers of old, who built from the ground up many of our nation's most sprawling cities.

Stories of rebellion and youthful love, as told by Portland, Oregon's own John Reed.

A science fiction novel which well depicts how capitalist societies alienate individuals within their society in addition to non-capitalist states in their periphery.

A young, uneducated mother of five moves from her small farm in Kentucky, to the city of Detroit. Soon thereafter, money becomes the be-all end-all of survival.

A well-off Harvard student transfers to the University of Chicago, and begins to befriend his working-class peers.

The lives of inter-war American Communist activists, in love and in radical politics.

Carson McCullers' first novel, set in the midst of the rural American South. Deaf-mute protagonist John Singer blesses the lives of those he interacts with on a daily basis, and we are lent a genuine introspection on the machinations of Southern working-class culture.

An inspired and loving depiction of South Appalachia.

A literary cross-section of the lives of working-class Jewish citizens of lower East Side Manhattan. The novel was used during the second World War in order to contradict Nazi propaganda.

Alexie's novel follows the career of a rock/blues band comprised of indigenous members of the Spokane Reservation.

Ken Kesey's (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) second novel. Loggers on the Oregon coast choose sides during a strike.

A young black single mother and her son must contend with the unending chaos of life in 40's Harlem.

Arguably nonfiction. Mary Heaton Vorse covers one of the bloodiest strikes in Southern history, which arose at the Loray textile mill in Gastonia, North Carolina.

Delightful proletarian fiction.