Running the Rails

"This very readable book will be an essential source in Philadelphia history, transportation history, and labor history. Running the Rails is first and foremost an engaging history of the public transit industry in Philadelphia with a particular focus on the interactions between its management and workers over almost a century of private ownership of the system. This history, and the many important issues it informs, is one that must be told, and Running the Rails is the authoritative work on the subject. James Wolfinger contributes to current discussions in the history of capitalism, in particular the place of private ownership of public services and management strategies in controlling labor."-Daniel Sidorick, author of Condensed Capitalism: Campbell Soup and the Pursuit of Cheap Production in the Twentieth Century "In his penetrating study of Philadelphia's transit industry, James Wolfinger shows how owners and managers used harsh working conditions, long hours, and trigger-happy strikebreakers to keep dividends high and payrolls low. Running the Rails gives mass transit its proper place in the histories of American labor and capitalism."-Zachary M. Schrag, author of The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro "Running the Rails is a fascinating and compelling account of the history of Philadelphia transit workers over a very long period of time. It is a work of classic labor history in that James Wolfinger tells the story of a group of workers and their efforts to unionize and, crucially, of management's efforts to control those workers and destroy or challenge their unions."-Eric Arnesen, James R. Hoffa Professor of Modern American Labor History and Executive Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, The George Washington University, author of Brotherhoods of Color: Black Railroad Workers and the Struggle for Equality "Running the Rails is a deeply researched book exhibiting a mastery of many intersecting subjects, from the technology of transit systems to complex financial and regulatory systems to the political milieu of the Philadelphia region.It is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of modern urban transportation, especially its social and political dimensions."-Joshua B. Freeman, Distinguished Professor of History, Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, author of Working-Class New York: Life and Labor since World War II