An award-winning and beloved novelist of the American West spins the further adventures of a favorite character, in one of his richest historical settings yet.
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An award-winning and beloved novelist of the American West spins the further adventures of a favorite character, in one of his richest historical settings yet.
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Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.97, good condition, Sold by Gulf Coast Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Memphis, TN, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.99, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $1.99, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song (Two Medicine Country) to cart. $2.58, good condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Work Song to cart. $2.81, very good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Riverhead Books.
There has been increased interest in American westerns the past several years. I have enjoyed exploring the genre and was glad to read for the first time Ivan Doig, (1939 -- 2015) in his 2010 novel "Work Song". Set in Butte, Montana in 1919 this book is sweet and a delight. It has a sure sense of place, well-developed characters, and an engaging story. During our current time of difficulty, "Work Song" offers a sense of the United States and a fresh view of its ideals.
The story's primary character is the mustachioed Morrie Morgan, a wanderer and a scholar who loves both books and gambling. Morrie has a long backstory in boxing and gambling in Chicago and in teaching in a small Montana town ten years before the events of "Work Song". The latter experiences are the subject of an earlier book by Doig, "The Whistling Season". When Morrie arrives on the train in Butte with nothing but his satchel, he secures lodging at a boarding house owned by the widow Grace Faraday. His fellow-boarders are two retired, crotchety Welch miners. Morrie secures a job at the Butte Public Library, which has a surprisingly large collection and which is supervised by one Samuel Sandison, a former wealthy rancher with a sinister path. Other important characters in the book include two goons of the Anaconda Mining Company and a young, ambitious union organizer.
The story captures a raucous, lively Butte, Montana and its diversity with miners from many countries of Europe who form their separate communities while trying to get along in unity together. The Butte of 1919 is shown as a prototypical American melting pot. The plot centers around a labor dispute between the mine workers and the Anaconda Mining Company which is drawing enormous profits from the mines while cutting the workers' pay. A rival. more radical union, the IWW is competing with the union the workers have organized in their search for a fair wage and safer working conditions.
The most effective scenes in the book show group community activity. Morrie and Grace attend a yearly Miners Day celebration described in detail. There is a harrowing scene of work in a copper mine 3000 feet underground. And there are several scenes of the union men organizing and coming together in the Butte Library to try to create an appropriate song to spearhead their movement in their fight with Anaconda. In reading about this early union activity, I thought of the recent movie "The Irishman" which shows a later, harsher side of the labor movement in its story of Jimmy Hoffa. The treatment of the labor movement in "Work Song" is a good early corrective with its idealism and honesty among the union workers.
The book works on both a community and with its flawed, characters,on a personal level. The unabashed romanticism and optimism of this book is a valuable antidote to much contemporary cynicism and social- cultural criticism. The book helped me understand the early mines, labor, and American diversity. I am looking forward to reading additional books by Ivan Doig,
