Forty Gavels The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO

Forty Gavels is the ground-breaking biography of the American Labor Movement's longest-serving leader, Reuben G. Soderstrom. As President of the Illinois State Federation of Labor and the Illinois AFL-CIO from 1930-1970, Soderstrom led one of the nation's largest labor organizations through the most challenging, exciting, and impactful events of the twentieth century. From the horrors and sacrifice of the Great Depression and World War II to the triumphs of post-war recovery, from the great merger of the AFL-CIO and on to the struggles and successes of the Civil Rights Movement, Soderstrom was there, forging a legacy as one of organized labor's most prolific voices. Adopting a year-by-year study of these years, this three-volume biography follows him to violent front-line strikes, rowdy union meetings in Chicago and all the way to policy summits at the White House, making Forty Gavels one of the most in-depth study of these years, this three-volume biography follows him to violent front-line strikes, rowdy union meetings in Chicago and all the way to policy summits at the White House, making Forty Gavels one of the most in-depth studies of the American Movement ever made.