Lettuce Wars
“Does an outstanding, exceptional job of providing the reader with an inside, on-the-ground view of the industrial farm labor experience in California and elsewhere. Bruce Neuburger’s story is compelling and often spell-binding. This is surely one of the most important contributions to the social justice literature exposing farmworker injustice at all levels.”-Dr. Ann López, Executive Director, Center for Farmworker Families; author,The Farmworkers' Journey,“In these stirring pages you will find exquisite descriptions of the work, lovely accounts of the people who do it, and a unique view of farm worker politics, all delivered in straight forward, good humored prose. Most of all, Neuburger reminds us of what it felt like to be young and believe in Revolution.”-Frank Bardacke, author,Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the UFW,“In the noble tradition of narratives of protest and witness, this historical work is relevant and timely. It forces us to cast a critical eye on our American democracy, where the rights of countless workers are trampled upon by those with political and economic power.”-Alba Cruz-Hacker, author ofNo Honey for Wild Beasts,“An extraordinary book. On one level, it is a political memoir of a young radical’s decade of immersion in the world of farmworkers—their work, their lives, and their struggles for union representation. On another level, Neuburger offers a history of the successes of the Farm Workers Union and its later degeneration. . . . a fascinating story of a young man successfully adapting to an unfamiliar culture.”-Michael Perelman, professor of economics, California State University, Chico; author,The Invisible Handcuffs of Capitalism,“Adds a new and carefully observed chapter to the farm labor saga in Steinbeck country during the Chavez years. . . . It’s the story of Neuburger’s real life in a notoriously hardscrabble labor market, one that seemed like a vestige a generation ago but now serves as the default model in a new era of global neoliberalism. If you’ve ever felt that we’re all ‘casual labor’ now, this is the book for you.”-Peter Richardson, author ofA Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed AmericaandAmerican Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams,