Death in the Haymarket

An absorbing narrative of the infamous Haymarket bombing that ended the first great labor movement, a turning point in the history of American capitalism. First time in paperback.On May 4, 1886, a bomb exploded at a Chicago labor rally, wounding dozens of policemen, seven of whom eventually died. A wave of mass hysteria swept the country, leading to a sensational trial, that culminated in four controversial executions, and dealt a blow to the labor movement from which it would take decades to recover. Historian James Green recounts the rise of the first great labor movement in the wake of the Civil War and brings to life an epic twenty-year struggle for the eight-hour workday. Blending a gripping narrative, outsized characters and a panoramic portrait of a major social movement, Death in the Haymarket is an important addition to the history of American capitalism and a moving story about the class tensions at the heart of Gilded Age America.

“"James Green tells a powerful story of Chicago, America and the industrial world of the nineteenth century. His talents as a historian and a writer bring to life social and political struggles that helped make modern American society." -Steven Hahn, Pulitzer Prize winning author ofA Nation Under our Feet "Green's recreation of this terrible moment exposes the deep divisions that marred America at the dawn of the industrial age. As the nation again struggles with wrenching economic change, we need to hear the story thatDeath in the Haymarketso passionately tells." -Kevin Boyle, National Book Award winning author ofArc of Justice "The Haymarket affair was a pivotal event in United States history. Green explains its significance with a scholar's sure grasp of context and a storyteller's skill at weaving a dramatic narrative." -Michael Kazin, author ofA Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan "Armed with the research tools of the historian and the literary skill of the novelist, Green tells the dramatic story of Haymarket and of the world of Chicago labor in the late nineteenth century better than it has ever been told before." -Eric Foner, author ofThe Story of American Freedom "It's about time that the great dramas in the rise of an American labor movement earned center stage in the history of American capitalism.Death in the Haymarketis a great read-and a required one." -Lizabeth Cohen, author ofA Consumers' Republic "Filled with the suspense of a good novel,Death in the Haymarketvividly illuminates the shifting industrial terrain of late nineteenth-century America. This is a work of art as well as history." -Alice Kessler-Harris, Bancroft Prize winning author ofIn Pursuit of Equity From the Hardcover edition.”

“Definitive. . . . Green’s dramatic narrative tells a powerful story about injustice, passion, prejudice and fanaticism.” —The Chicago Tribune“Though a number of prominent historians have written about the Haymarket Affair, no one has told the story more thoroughly, incisively and elegantly than Green. . . . He has reconstructed both the context and the events of the Haymarket tragedy with the fine hand of a novelist. The book is rich in plot development and thick characterization, and its interpretations and drama leave the reader both informed and drained.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune“Absorbing. . . .Green . . .brings this tale to vivid life [and] does a wonderful job of delineating the cross currents of labor, capital, politics, and terrorism. . . fascinating and deeply American.”—The Boston Globe“It tells the tale with extraordinary grace. Its simplicity of expression carries an understated dramatic charge that stays with you long after finishing.”—The Nation

James Green is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He grew up outside of Chicago and now lives with his family in Somerville, Massachusetts.

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