Citizens

“A fine American novel—one of the best I ever read.” —Ernest Hemingway

THE PRICE OF PROGRESS

For Chicago physician, Mitch Wilner, July 4th, 1937, began as a typical holiday—a leisurely afternoon at the beach with his wife and young children. But by the end of the day, a peaceful protest erupts in violence, as unarmed steel mill strikers are attacked by the local police force, and Mitch is inadvertently thrust into the volatile heart of the Little Steel Strike.

In the days and months that follow, Mitch witnesses firsthand the aggressive strike-breaking tactics implemented by the steel mill companies, the staggering brutality of the authorities, and the blatant corruption of the local government and media. But in the unionists, Mitch discovers a bond that crosses ethnic, class, and racial boundaries, and truly embodies the spirit of the American dream.

Inspired by the grim events of Chicago’s historic Memorial Day Massacre, Citizens takes an unflinching look at some of the darkest days in modern U.S. labor history, and the long shadow they cast on subsequent labor movement and law. Mitch’s journey to understand and change the world around him will resound as clearly today as it did when Meyer Levin first published Citizens to great acclaim in 1940.

PRAISE
“One of the best American writers working in the realistic tradition.” —Norman Mailer

“[A] long, powerful, photographic novel.”—Kirkus Reviews