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book: Holding the Line
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Holding the Line

Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2012

About this book

The women tell remarkable stories of their lives and actions.... This book pays powerful tribute to their resolve and passion for economic justice.― Publishers Weekly

Holding the Line, Barbara Kingsolver's first non-fiction book, is the story of women's lives transformed by an a signal event. Set in the small mining towns of Arizona, it is part oral history and part social criticism, exploring the process of empowerment which occurs when people work together as a community. Like Kingsolver's award-winning novels, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters.

Hundreds of families held the line in the 1983 strike against Phelps Dodge Copper in Arizona. After more than a year the strikers lost their union certification, but the battle permanently altered the social order in these small, predominantly Hispanic mining towns. At the time the strike began, many women said they couldn't leave the house without their husband's permission. Yet, when injunctions barred union men from picketing, their wives and daughters turned out for the daily picket lines. When the strike dragged on and men left to seek jobs elsewhere, women continued to picket, organize support, and defend their rights even when the towns were occupied by the National Guard.

"Nothing can ever be the same as it was before," said Diane McCormick of the Morenci Miners Women's Auxiliary. "Look at us. At the beginning of this strike, we were just a bunch of ladies."

Reviews

The women tell remarkable stories of their lives and actions.... This book pays powerful tribute to their resolve and passion for economic justice.

---

Like Kingsolver's fiction, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters—only this time the characters are real.

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
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  • Publicly Available

    Contents

    vii
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    Acknowledgments

    ix
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    Introduction

    xi
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    1. The Devil's Domain

    1
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    2. On the Line

    22
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    3. Hell and High Water

    49
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    4. We'll Stay Here Until We're Gone

    64
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    5. Ask Any Miner

    73
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    6. We Go with Our Heads Up

    97
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    7. Falling-Apart Things

    111
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    8. My Union and My Friends

    123
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    9. Women's Work

    134
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    10. Up to No Good

    150
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    11. If the Truth Would Come Out

    163
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    12. Just a Bunch of Ladies

    175
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    Epilogue

    191
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    Bibliography

    197
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    Index

    201
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
April 10, 2017
eBook ISBN:
9780801465178
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
228
View content
https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801465178
eBook ISBN: 9780801465178
Keywords for this book
mining industry; empowerment; non-fiction; Women in politics; Single Working Womens Day; Gender studies; Gender roles; Women's leadership; daughters; social order; Women; Women's rights; Labor disputes; mining towns; oral history; Feminist research; Feminist activism; frontier; narrative nonfiction; strength of characters; history; American society; Industrial relations; family; picket lines; Women's empowerment; 20th century history; resilience; Gender discrimination; Diane McCormick; Feminist theory; solidarity; cowboys; borderland; transformation; labor rights; cattle ranching; union men; strikers; Women's history; women's lives; labor stories; colonization; Phelps Dodge Copper; Morenci Miners Women's Auxiliary; defend rights; Barbara Kingsolver; Women's suffrage; Arizona; social criticism; Women's studies; Feminist literature; social justice; Hispanic mining towns; Feminist movements; National Guard; gender roles; union certification; Gender identity; 1983 strike; community; Collective bargaining; exploration; wives; Gender inequality; Feminism; Civil War; daily picket lines; organize support; activism; Employee rights; Labor activism; women's history month; Civil rights
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
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