Georgia Books

Raw Deal

Once in a while you read a book chock full of information you didn't know that you didn't know, or more importantly that you didn't know you needed to know. "The Fruits of Their Labor," by Cindy Hahamovitch, is such a book. The subtitle - Atlantic Coast Farmworkers and the Making of Migrant Poverty, 1870-1945 - only hints at the breadth of the subject matter, which stretches to include an economic and social history of agriculture in states from Maine to Florida and the Deep South. Though the author traces the changes in farming and truck-gardening that resulted from the partial mechanization of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, the focus of the book is on the conversion of traditional year-round farm-hands into seasonal laborers, and thus to the lowest-on-the-totem-pole migrants whose welfare was of minimal interest to ever-larger farm businessmen. More than half of the book deals with the twelve years of the New Deal and the Second World War, revealing how ineffective the "reformers" were in the face of opposition from racists and conservatives of both parties. It's no surprise to learn that FDR threw farm labor to the wolves, excluding it from the benefits of collective bargaining. Likewise, it's hardly shocking to realize how little understanding of rural realities the urban reformers of the era were, in their hopes that paternalism and a little health education would restore the agrarian paradise envisioned by Tom Jefferson. The value of this book comes from observing the mechanisms of interest groups - owners, to be blunt - in turning the efforts of government at all levels to the service of their selfish interests. It's also quite astonishing to observe how capitalistic farm-owners and government at all levels colluded, first in the callous exploitation of recent immigrants from Italy and then in the cultivation of the harvest of easily manipulated "undocumented" workers from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Asia, which the same people are still hypocritically ranting against. And finally, at the broadest level, this text is a study of the malfunctional interaction of federal and state governments at cross purposes, with the worst outcomes invariably befalling the humblest citizens.

I know something about the history of agriculture in the Far West, from the days of the Southern Pacific "Octopus" to the heroic struggles of Cesar Chavez and the UFW. I know it academically, but also personally. During my high school summers in California in the late 1950s, I was a "fruit picker" - trailer court white trash - with most of my earnings going to feed my family while my father blew his paychecks on another recent-model car. I picked string beans, hops, tomatoes, and prunes. It was filthy, fatiguing, and unhealthy work, and a source of shame when my classmates heard of it. The idea that bringing in the harvest is healthful and noble was and is cow flop; breathing dust and pesticides in the hot sun for ten or twelve hours a day is not a pleasant interlude. I finally looked old enough to get a job picking apples from a ladder, the cleanest and most profitable sort of field work, if not the safest. At age eighteen, I was legally old enough to work in the cannery. It was still back-breaking; as the freshest face, my task was to lift boxes of apple sauce from a conveyor belt to a palette, and I estimate that I handled as much as thirty thousand pounds of apple sauce a night. But it was a union cannery! For work that was if anything less skilled than picking, I got paid an hourly wage that was eight times higher than I ever earned on the ladder. It was the Teamsters' Union, by the way. I kept my membership all through my four years at Harvard College, where two of my classmates were Richard Darman, Bush I's budget director, and Boyden Gray, the Bush Family legal counsel.

The history of farm labor and thwarted unionization east of the Mississippi is, if anything, even more dastardly than that of the West Coast. It's not a story that makes for pleasant reading, though Ms. Hahamovitch writes clearly and unpretentiously. Perhaps the best way to capture your interest will be to offer a few snippets.

Page 165 - Discussing the market-place economics of farmer labor, she writes: If labor prices are taken as a measure of farm labor supply , then it is difficult to explain why truck farmers complained of labor shortages when they were apparently well supplied with labor. [This was in the years just before WW2.] However, the notion of a "labor market" that operates according to rules of supply and demand ignores the impact of custom and culture, of deeply held assumptions about what labor is "worth." [The assumptions she refers to are the racial and class prejudices which have shadowed every aspect of labor history in the Land of Equality.]
Page 178 - Discussing the WW2 importation of workers from the Caribbean and Mexico, managed by the federal government, she writes: The WFA was reluctant to include Puerto Ricans in the program because, as U.S, citizens, they could not be "repatriated" at the end of a contracted period. The solution...was to withhold a portion of each worker's pay and deposit in a Puerto Rican bank. The workers.... could not withdraw these funds until they returned home....
On the next page, she describes the use of POWs to oversupply the labor pool in order to keep workers from successfully demanding higher piece rates: POWs represented a particular challenge to federal authorities, because although enlisted men could be forced to work...they could hardly be fired or deported. They were in some ways in a position analogous to that of slaves, but unlike slaves they could neither be whipped nor sold.

Pow! Did you know that the USA used forced labor during WW2? Actually, that's not nearly as shocking as the laws passed in several Southern states that required men to work in the fields or be immediately drafted, and women to work in agriculture or be jailed. Black men and women, of course. There were also laws during both World Wars that required agricultural workers to remain in specific counties, and those laws were enforced by local authorities even when various federal agencies tried to recruit workers to save crops in truly labor-short areas.

To recount all of Ms. Hahamovitch's amazing revelations, I'd need to quote the whole book. One further thought: States' Rights was born as a tactic to defend slavery, and States' Rights has remained inextricable from racism ever since. If that thesis seems unpalatable to you, then you are one of those who don't yet know what you don't know, and you'd better start informing yourself by reading "The Fruits of Their Labor" before you denounce me as a spawn of liberalism.

"This tiny candlelit dining room has no menu - instead, choose from raw ingredients brought directly to your table then cooked to order. Offerings change daily, but the heavenly results - succulent lobster with spicy Parmesan sauce, Chinese noodles with smoked fish in a saffron-mastic infusion - have made it a perennial favorite. Service is impeccably personal and the check arrives in an antique music box."

Of all the guides I've seen for Athens, this one has some very unique and cozy recommendations for restaurants. If you are going to Athens as much for the food as the architecture, this guide will gives you "the draw," "the scene," and a "hot tip" for each restaurant. Reading through the downtown attractions, you feel you are truly there because the descriptions are so detailed.

The main sections include information on art spaces, beaches, seasonal highlights, cafes, candlelit bars, classic dining, hotels, places by the sea, clubs, rooms with views, shows under the stars and tables with a view. Four sections about the Athens Experience presents opportunity for either a Classic Athens tour, Hot-and-Cool Itinerary, Downtown Athens visit, By-the-Water Athens escape.

Delphi, Napflion, Olympia, Thessaloniki and the Wineries of Attica are also featured. The Ilands: Hydra, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini and Skiathos are briefly discussed and given a few pages each.

This book contains some of the best food/travel writing I've seen in a long time. The Fun Seeker's Athens is worth buying for the writing style and cozy suggestions! Reading this guide will make you wonder why you are still at home! They make Athens sound like the place to be, so romantic.

~The Rebecca Review

We are day trip addicts and this book is an awesome addition to our travel library. We recently relocated to GA and found this book full of possibilities. It explains all aspects of the attraction, rating cost, ages and so on. A must have if you live in GA or are visiting!

This is one of the best science books I've read. Wish my high school teachers used it. It has a few errors, but the website give you corrections. Also, you can use it along with Google searches to get more information. Love this book. Will take text next month. Recommend 4 weeks of study with this material before you test.

Finnell's entry in the Great American Long Poem Contest is unlike any other I can think of. The individual sections skitter and swoop over great realms of aesthetic, personal, and historical territory, and the tone ranges from hilarity to wistfulness. In the guise of a meditation on Gauguin's strange allegorical painting, Finnell offers an indescribable mixture of family history, dream vision, artistic rumination, and slanted autobiography--all turning on and returning to the questions posed by Gauguin's title: "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" These huge questions fairly beg for solemnity and bardic posturing, but Finnell addresses them with consummately sly and strange offhandedness. Overall, his imagination is so odd, his sensibility so charming, his diction so fresh and capacious that it's easy to get lost in this book-and even easier to enjoy it.

Donald Revell's poetry combines spare silences and a weird jazzy imagery that is hauntingly original. One can feel the musical imagery of Klee here, as if the words and their sensations had been transformed into a shifting, living song full of the slight horrors and joys of everyday living. Formally, Revell is among the most progressive poets alive. And stylistically, he is all his own. If someone asked me where poetry is today, I would answer, right here.

While many people readily connect Henry Benning with the US military installation, the deeds and details of his life have slipped into obscurity. Even in his hometown, the historical marker that once pointed to the location of his home and briefly described him is no longer there. His home, and the entire city block on Broad Street in Georgia has been demolished. Today, Benning's old neighborhood has been replaced by Total Systems, a modern coporate office facility.

Henry L Benning was a wise, prudent and selfless servent of causes that he felt were just. Benning excelled as a military leader and his career as an attorney is legendary. He served his home state as a Solicitor General and as a Justice of the Supreme Court. His career as a successful attorney earned him the reputation as a champion of truth and justice. He was also a devoted husband, loving father and a generous friend.

This is an excellent research book for anyone interested in the life of General Henry Lewis Benning. The chapters in this book's pages include The Columbus Bank Cases; Succession of the Confederacy; The Battles of Gettysburg, Chickamauga and the "Riot in Raleigh"; and the East Tennesse Campaign and the Battle of the Wilderness. There are almost a hundred photographs, maps and illustrations in this book. Footnotes appear throughout the book and reference the reader to countless resources for research. A thirty-two page index is at the end of the book.

An engaging narrative of the founding and growth of this town-turned-city in southwest Georgia. The authors captured the flavor and spirit of the area, enhanced by the intriguing photographs. A coffee table book that's "good to the last drop". --Brenda--

Rarely does a photographer inspire such consistent emotion as you will find in this beauitful book. Craig Tanner shares an intimate love of Georgia with his breathtaking photography. This man is destined to be one of our most treasured artists in landscape photography.

Tanner has yet again a stunning selection of Georgia's beautiful places. Each year's calendar is a delight.