Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Streets, Railroads, and the Great Strike of 1877, Hardback Book

Streets, Railroads, and the Great Strike of 1877 Hardback

Part of the Historical Studies of Urban America series

Hardback

Description

For one week in late July of 1877, America shook with anger and fear as a variety of urban residents, mostly working class, attacked railroad property in dozens of towns and cities.

The Great Strike of 1877 was one of the largest and most violent urban uprisings in American history. Whereas most historians treat the event solely as a massive labor strike that targeted the railroads, David O.

Stowell examines America's predicament more broadly to uncover the roots of this rebellion.

He studies the urban origins of the Strike in three upstate New York cities--Buffalo, Albany, and Syracuse.

He finds that locomotives rumbled through crowded urban spaces, sending panicked horses and their wagons careening through streets.

Hundreds of people were killed and injured with appalling regularity.

The trains also disrupted street traffic and obstructed certain forms of commerce.

For these reasons, Stowell argues, The Great Strike was not simply an uprising fueled by disgruntled workers.

Rather, it was a grave reflection of one of the most direct and damaging ways many people experienced the Industrial Revolution.

Information

Other Formats

Information

Also in the Historical Studies of Urban America series  |  View all