Midnight in Vehicle City
General Motors, Flint, and the Strike That Created the Middle Class
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Midnight in Vehicle City
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Narrated by:
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Jeff Zinn
About this listen
Winner of the 2021 Midland Authors Book Award in History
In a time of great inequality and a gutted middle class, the dramatic story of “the strike heard around the world” is a testament to what workers can gain when they stand up for their rights.
The tumultuous Flint sit-down strike of 1936-1937 was the birth of the United Auto Workers, which set the standard for wages in every industry. Midnight in Vehicle City tells the gripping story of how workers defeated General Motors, the largest industrial corporation in the world. Their victory ushered in the golden age of the American middle class and created a new kind of America, one in which every worker had a right to a share of the company’s wealth. The causes for which the strikers sat down—collective bargaining, secure retirement, better wages—enjoyed a half century of success. But now, the middle class is disappearing and economic inequality is at its highest since before the New Deal.
Journalist and historian Edward McClelland brings the action-packed events of the strike back to life—through the voices of those who lived it. In vivid play-by-plays, McClelland narrates the dramatic scenes including of the takeovers of GM plants; violent showdowns between picketers and the police; Michigan governor Frank Murphy’s activation of the National Guard; the actions of the militaristic Women’s Emergency Brigade who carried billy clubs and vowed to protect strikers from police; and tense negotiations between labor leader John L. Lewis, GM chairman Alfred P. Sloan, and labor secretary Frances Perkins.
The epic tale of the strike and its lasting legacy shows why the middle class is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and will guide our understanding of what we will lose if we don’t revive it.
©2021 Edward McClelland (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“[A] fascinating labor struggle. Readers interested in American labor and social history will find McClelland’s engagingly written, informative work a key to understanding the voices and roles of those who advocated for better working conditions for all working-class people.” (Booklist)
“In Midnight in Vehicle City, Edward McClelland draws out such lessons from the past and offers them up to workers fighting new battles in long conflict.” (Chicago Review of Books)
“Students of labor history will relish this enthusiastic chronicle of a victory for ordinary workers.” (Publishers Weekly)
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 90
The dramatic story of the explosive 1894 clash of industry, labor, and government that shook the nation and marked a turning point for America. The Edge of Anarchy offers a vivid account of the greatest uprising of working people in American history. At the pinnacle of the Gilded Age, a boycott of Pullman sleeping cars by hundreds of thousands of railroad employees brought commerce to a standstill across much of the country. Famine threatened, riots broke out along the rail lines. Soon the US Army was on the march and gunfire rang from the streets of major cities.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow! every workingman should read.
- By Calemos on 01-18-20
By: Jack Kelly
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Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5,264
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,659
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4,643
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
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5 out of 5 stars
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That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
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Eyes on the Prize
- America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965
- By: Juan Williams, Julian Bond - introduction
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story5 out of 5 stars 39
From leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., to lesser-known figures such as Barbara Rose Johns and Jim Zwerg, each man and woman made the decision that something had to be done to stop discrimination. These moving accounts of the first decade of the civil rights movement are a tribute to the people, black and white, who took part in the fight for justice and the struggle they endured.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is a must in every household.
- By victor mercer on 07-12-19
By: Juan Williams, and others
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The Mayor of Castro Street
- The Life and Times of Harvey Milk
- By: Randy Shilts
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 206
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 176
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 176
Known as The Mayor of Castro Street even before he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Harvey Milk's personal life, public career, and final assassination reflect the dramatic emergence of the gay community as a political power in America. It is a story full of personal tragedies and political intrigues, assassinations at City Hall, massive riots in the streets, the miscarriage of justice, and the consolidation of gay power and gay hope.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent historical perspective of an activist.
- By Chris on 04-14-15
By: Randy Shilts
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The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 660
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 576
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 571
The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
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Once in a Great City
- A Detroit Story
- By: David Maraniss
- Narrated by: David Maraniss
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 187
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 158
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 154
It's 1963, and Detroit is on top of the world. The city's leaders are among the most visionary in America. It was the American auto makers' best year; the revolution in music and politics was underway. Walter Reuther's UAW had helped lift the middle class. Once in a Great City shows that the shadows of collapse were evident even then. Yet so much of what Detroit gave America lasts.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great read
- By Jordanel on 01-02-16
By: David Maraniss
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The Glory and the Dream
- A Narrative History of America, 1932 - 1972
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 57 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 451
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 350
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 350
This great time capsule of a book captures the abundant popular history of the United States from 1932 to 1972. It encompasses politics, military history, economics, the lively arts, science, fashion, fads, social change, sexual mores, communications, graffiti...everything and anything indigenous that can be captured in print.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Fabulous book, good narration, bad recording
- By Paula on 07-10-08
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The Hour of Fate
- Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism
- By: Susan Berfield
- Narrated by: Jennifer Woodward
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 56
A riveting narrative of Wall Street buccaneering, political intrigue and two of American history’s most colossal characters, struggling for mastery in an era of social upheaval and rampant inequality. Today, as the country again asks whether saving democracy means taming capital, the lessons of Roosevelt and Morgan’s time are more urgent than ever.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Engaging
- By Jean on 06-08-20
By: Susan Berfield
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Nine Days
- The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life and Win the 1960 Election
- By: Paul Kendrick, Stephen Kendrick
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
Less than three weeks before the 1960 presidential election, 31-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested at a sit-in at Rich's Department Store in Atlanta. That day would lead to the first night King had ever spent in jail - and the time that King's family most feared for his life. Based on fresh interviews, newspaper accounts, and extensive archival research, Nine Days is the first full recounting of an event that changed the course of one of the closest elections in American history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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a fascinating, detailed, blow-by-blow approach
- By D. Littman on 01-29-21
By: Paul Kendrick, and others
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American-Made
- The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work
- By: Nick Taylor
- Narrated by: James Boles
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 81
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4 out of 5 stars 38
When President Roosevelt took the oath of office in March 1933, he was facing a devastated nation. Four years into the Great Depression, a staggering 13 million American workers were jobless and many millions more of their family members were equally in need. Desperation ruled the land. In 1935, after a variety of temporary relief measures, a permanent nationwide jobs program was created.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The true spirit of America.
- By Helen on 07-01-08
By: Nick Taylor
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The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,634
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,227
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3,217
This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
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The Accidental President
- Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,268
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,973
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,965
The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-14-17
By: A. J. Baime
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1920
- The Year of Six Presidents
- By: David Pietrusza
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 243
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 201
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Story4 out of 5 stars 204
The presidential election of 1920 was among history's most dramatic. Six once-and-future presidents--Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt--jockeyed for the White House. With voters choosing between Wilson's League of Nations and Harding's front-porch isolationism, the 1920 election shaped modern America.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A fascinating view into the US at the end of WWI
- By D. Littman on 12-31-09
By: David Pietrusza
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The Fighting Bunch
- The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution
- By: Chris DeRose
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 145
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story5 out of 5 stars 127
The incredible, untold story of the WWII vets who overthrew their corrupt hometown government - the only successful armed rebellion on US soil since the War of Independence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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epic!
- By jned on 11-04-20
By: Chris DeRose
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Frank and Al
- FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party
- By: Terry Golway
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story5 out of 5 stars 25
Just before the Roaring Twenties, Al Smith, a proud son of the Tammany Hall political machine, and Franklin Roosevelt, a country squire, formed an unlikely alliance that transformed the Democratic Party. Smith and FDR dominated politics in the most-powerful state in the union for a quarter-century, and in 1932, they ran against each other for the Democratic presidential nomination, setting off one of the great feuds in American history. The relationship between Smith and Roosevelt, portrayed here, is one of the most dramatic untold stories of early 20th-century American politics.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Solid and important history
- By J&L Hely on 08-27-23
By: Terry Golway
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Parting the Waters
- America in the King Years 1954-63
- By: Taylor Branch
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Janina Edwards
- Length: 45 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 194
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 170
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Story5 out of 5 stars 170
Hailed as the most masterful story ever told of the American civil rights movement, Parting the Waters is destined to endure for generations. Moving from the fiery political baptism of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the corridors of Camelot where the Kennedy brothers weighed demands for justice against the deceptions of J. Edgar Hoover, here is a vivid tapestry of America, torn and finally transformed by a revolutionary struggle unequaled since the Civil War.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By Judith Princz on 05-15-19
By: Taylor Branch
What listeners say about Midnight in Vehicle City
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-30-21
The Most Important Book of 2021!
Every worker in America needs to read this book! The working class can win if we stand together. Abraham Lincoln said "Labor is prior and superior to capital."
Low wages divide this country more than anything else. They give you immigration, race, gender, and what have you to fight over so that you don't stand together.
SOLIDARITY FOREVER!
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