Under The Hook: Melbourne Waterside Workers Remember Working Lives And Class War: 1900-1980 (SIGNED)
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Signed with inscription
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
In the bustling, gritty world of Melbourne's waterfront, generations of waterside workers endured brutal conditions, precarious employment, and fierce class conflict — and Under the Hook gives them a voice at last. This landmark oral history chronicles eight decades of working life along Melbourne's docks, weaving together the testimonies of the men who lived through the hiring chaos of the early 1900s, the bitter industrial disputes, and the slow, hard-won gains of organised labour, painting an intimate and unflinching portrait of a community defined by solidarity and struggle. Wendy Lowenstein and Tom Hills bring to this work a sharp documentary instinct and a deep respect for the workers whose stories they have gathered, presenting history not from the boardrooms or parliament but from the wharves, the picket lines, and the kitchen tables of working-class Melbourne. The book stands as a vital contribution to Australian labour history, illustrating how class consciousness was forged not in ideology but in daily lived experience, and reminding readers that the battles fought on the waterfront between 1900 and 1980 shaped the very fabric of Australian society. For anyone who believes history belongs to those who make it with their hands, this is essential reading.
Author: Wendy Lowenstein & Tom Hills
Format: Paperback
Published: 1982, Melbourne Bookworkers, in association with The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Signed with inscription
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
In the bustling, gritty world of Melbourne's waterfront, generations of waterside workers endured brutal conditions, precarious employment, and fierce class conflict — and Under the Hook gives them a voice at last. This landmark oral history chronicles eight decades of working life along Melbourne's docks, weaving together the testimonies of the men who lived through the hiring chaos of the early 1900s, the bitter industrial disputes, and the slow, hard-won gains of organised labour, painting an intimate and unflinching portrait of a community defined by solidarity and struggle. Wendy Lowenstein and Tom Hills bring to this work a sharp documentary instinct and a deep respect for the workers whose stories they have gathered, presenting history not from the boardrooms or parliament but from the wharves, the picket lines, and the kitchen tables of working-class Melbourne. The book stands as a vital contribution to Australian labour history, illustrating how class consciousness was forged not in ideology but in daily lived experience, and reminding readers that the battles fought on the waterfront between 1900 and 1980 shaped the very fabric of Australian society. For anyone who believes history belongs to those who make it with their hands, this is essential reading.