Reviews

"Holding the Line is both clear and emotional, the story of women who try to get a fair shake in their workplace and realize they can stop at nothing short of control over their entire lives. This is a report from the trenches of where the political meets the personal." John Sayles"

"Like Kingsolver's fiction, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters only this time the characters are real." Journal of the Southwest"

"The women tell remarkable stories of their lives and actions. . . . This book pays powerful tribute to their resolve and passion for economic justice." Publishers Weekly"

In 1983, after the Phelps Dodge Copper Corporation demanded an unprecedented amount of pay and benefits cuts, a union consortium, consisting of mostly Hispanic women, held a strike in four small Arizona mining towns. The women's lives were transformed. Their culture had confined them to limited roles; they now became leaders, strategists, spokespersons, and morale-boosters. The first-person narratives of these women dominate this account of the 18-month strike, written by novelist Kingsolver, author of The Bean Trees (LJ 2/1/88) and Homeland and Other Stories ( LJ 5/15/89). While this format is interesting, fewer quotations and additional industry and strike background would have made the account more effective. Despite these reservations, the book will interest readers of labor studies, women's studies, and community/ethnic studies.-- Frieda Shoenberg Rozen, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park

"Holding the Line is both clear and emotional, the story of women who try to get a fair shake in their workplace and realize they can stop at nothing short of control over their entire lives. This is a report from the trenches of where the political meets the personal." John Sayles"
"Like Kingsolver's fiction, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters only this time the characters are real." Journal of the Southwest"
"The women tell remarkable stories of their lives and actions. . . . This book pays powerful tribute to their resolve and passion for economic justice." Publishers Weekly"