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PUBLICATIONS

MY BOOKS

• Solidarity Forever!: An IWW Novel, 2022.

• A Forlorn Hope: Third Parties and American Political Ideology, 2022.

• The Year of Hope and Fear: Insurrection and Repression, 1919, 2022.

• Los Desperados, 2021.

• That Fat Cat: Poems for Youngsters, 2021.

• Barricades Burning: Political and Personal Poems, 2021.

• More Sorrows & Delights: Fantasy & Science Fiction, 2021.

• Question Authority: Writings from the Free School Movement, 2021.

• Orphans of the Storm: A Shared Memoir of the Radical Seventies, 2020.

• The Paterson Strike Pageant, 2019.

• Picket Line and Ballot Box: The Forgotten Legacy of the Labor Party, 2018.

• The Great Strike of 1877, 2018.

• The Scarlet Queen, 2016.

• The Desperate and the Dead, 2014.

• Radicals in Power: The New Left Experience in Office, 2012.

• Crucible of Freedom: Workers' Democracy in the Industrial Heartland, 2010.

• What Is Feminism?, Main Problems in American Women’s History, 2009.

• Sweet Sorrows & Violent Delights: Fantasy & Science Fiction, 2009.

• Fight the Power: A Memoir of the Sixties, 2009.

• Walk Like A Man: A Memoir of Machismo, 2008.

• American Labor History Made Easy!, 2009.

• Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965, 2006.

• Pioneers of Wonder: Conversations With the Founders of Science Fiction, 1999. 

FEATURED BOOKS

Crucible of Freedom
Workers' Democracy in the Industrial Heartland, 

1914 -1960

This book explores the relation between democracy and industrialization in United States history. Over the course of the 1930s, the political center almost disappeared as the Democratic New Deal became the litmus test of class, with blue collar workers providing its bedrock of support while white collar workers and those in the upper-income levels opposed it. 

Radicals in Power:
The New Left Experience in Office​

Our memory of Sixties New Left radicals often evokes marches in the streets, battles with the police, or urban bombings. However, the New Left was a multi-faceted movement, with diverse tendencies. 

Partners in Wonder:
Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 

1926-1965

Partners in Wonder revolutionizes our knowledge of women and early science fiction. Contrary to accepted interpretations, women fans and writers were a welcome and influential part of pulp science fiction from the birth of the genre. 

PUBLICATION AWARDS, GRANTS, & HONORS:

Parsec Short Story Contest 2nd-Place Winner, 1998: Cash prize and publication in international fiction contest.

Bryant Spann Memorial Prize, 1997, presented by the Eugene V. Debs Foundation. For “The Very Last Hurrah: The Defeat of the Labor Party Idea, 1934-1936.” [University of Illinois Press link] [Book, "We are All Leaders" on Amazon]

Parsec Short Story Contest 1st-Place Winner, 1995: Cash prize and publication.

Golden Quill Award Finalist, 1985: Magazine Editorial Writing. (Pennsylvania's highest journalism award.)

Golden Quill Award Winner, 1981-'84:

        • Best Documentary, Radio, 1984.

        • Best Investigative Reporting, Radio, 1983.

        • Best Sports Reporting, Radio, 1983.

        • Best Sports Reporting, Non-Daily Newspaper, 1983.

        • Best Cultural Reporting, Non-Daily Newspaper, 1981.

        • Best Personality Reporting, Non-Daily Newspaper, 1981.

Pennsylvania Humanities Council Grantee, 1982: Full funding for video documentary on The Leona Theater, a picture palace.

BOOK CHAPTERS

"From Aliens to Americans: Immigration and Socio-Political Change in Pittsburgh, 1914-1940," in The Life and Work of Samuel Rosenberg, Barbara Jones, University of Pittsburgh Press: Pittsburgh, 2003.

"The Very Last Hurrah: The Defeat of the Labor Party Idea, 1934-1936," in "We Are All Leaders": The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s, Staughton Lynd, Ed., University of Illinois Press: Urbana, 1996.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

"Blue Collar Democracy: Class War and Political Revolution in Western Pennsylvania, 1932-1937." Pennsylvania History, Vol. 67, #2, Spring, 2000.

"The Star That Wasn't There: A Curious Lacuna in Our Medieval Texts and What it Might Suggest About the Byzantine Schism." The Journal of Unconventional History, Vol. 8, #1, Fall, 1996.

        • "Words Property of the People: The Lost Poetry of Genevieve Taggard," The Journal of Unconventional History, Vol. 7, #2, Winter, 1996.

        • "The Mexican Reformation: Why the Mexican Revolution Wasn't Revolutionary,"The Journal of Unconventional History, Vol. 6, #2, Winter, 1995.

        • "The Era of the Common Child: Egalitarian Death in Antebellum America," Mid-America, An Historical Journal, April-July, 1993.

        • "Picket Line and Ballot Box: The Forgotten Legacy of The Local Labor Party Movement, 1932-1936," with Staughton Lynd, Radical History Review, Winter, 1979-'80.

        • "Petroglyphs of Wupatki," with Gabrielle Dolphin, Southwestern Lore: Journal of the Colorado Archaeological Society, June, 1973.

BOOK INTROD​UCTION

The Collected Edmond Hamilton: The Universe Wreckers, Vol. 3, Haffner Press, 2010.

ENCYCLOPEDIA AND RELATED ESSAYS

The Shattered Dream: The Shock of Industrialism and The Crisis of the Free Labor Ideal,” in A Companion to Reconstruction Presidents, 1865-1881, Edward O. Frantz, Ed., Wiley Blackwell, 2014.

Science Fiction Novels and Short Fiction, 1900-1960,” in Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Robin Anne Reid, Ed., Greenwood Publishing Group, 2009.

Reconstruction,” “The Last Indian Wars, 1850-1900,” “Immigration and Industrialization, 1850-1900,” “The Great Depression and the New Deal,” “American Folk Music,” in The World and Its Peoples, Grolier's Reference, 2008.

"Eugene V. Debs" and "Genevieve Taggard" in American Literature of the Working Classes, Nicholas J. Coles and Janet Zandy, Eds., Oxford University Press: NY, 2006.

"Labor Strikes During Wartime," in The Encyclopedia of War and American Society, Peter Karsten, Ed., Sage Publications: NY, 2005.

"The Labor Party Movement of the 1930s," "The People's Party, 1971-78," "The Michigan Human Rights Party," in The Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America, Immanuel Ness & James Ciment, Eds., M.E. Sharpe Publications: Armonk, NY, 2000.

"Sidney Lens," in The Encyclopedia of the American Left, Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, & Dan Georgakas, Eds., Garland Publications: N.Y., 1990; Oxford University Press: NY, 1998.

"Charles D. Hornig," "Raymond Z. Gallun," "David Lasser," "Laurence Manning," "Sam Moskowitz," in The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, James Gunn, Ed., Viking Press: NY, 1988.

POPULAR ESSAYS:

"The Prophetic Vision of Stephen Vincent Benet," DreamForge: A Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February, 2019.

"JFK’s Assassination: Collecting Memories of an Awful Day," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 17, 2013.

"Beaten With A Broom," Heart Quarterly, July, 1998.

"Dr. Spock, the Campaigner," Op-Ed Page, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 21, 1998.

"Summer of '69," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 7, 1994, Peace Magazine, Spring, 1996.

"Bring'em Back Alive! Interviewing in the Electronic Age," Science Fiction Oral History Association Newsletter, October, 1991.

"Dog Days on the Mon," Overtime: The Mill Hunk Herald Worker Writer Anthology, 1979-1989, West End Press: Albuquerque, 1990. Also published as "A Steelworker and The Last Shift," In These Times, October 27, 1982.

"Can The School Create A New Social Order?: A Reassessment of Christopher Jencks," Edcentric, April, 1975.

"Christopher Jencks: Does He Lack the Courage of His Convictions?,” Harvard Crimson, November 19, 1974.

VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES:

"Leona: Portrait of a Picture Palace," with Anita Alverio, Cultural History, 1983.

Broadcast on Warner Cable TV, Pittsburgh. Soundtrack aired on WYEP-FM, Pittsburgh, for which it won the Pennsylvania Golden Quill Award for Best Radio Documentary, 1984. Copies available from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, The Western Pennsylvania Historical Society, and the University of Pittsburgh Media Services.

"Homestead: We're Not Dead Yet!" with Anita Alverio, Labor History, 1981.

Broadcast on Warner Cable TV, Pittsburgh. Soundtrack aired on WYEP-FM, Pittsburgh.

CONFERENCE PAPERS:

"The Littlest New Deal: How Democracy and the Union Came to Western Pennsylvania," 73rd Annual Meeting, Pennsylvania Historical Assn., Bethlehem, PA, Oct., 2004.

Symposium on Steel & Steelworkers, 1919-Present, Carnegie-Mellon University (PA), June, 1995.

75th Anniversary Symposium on the Great Steel Strike of 1919, Braddock, PA, Sept., 1994.

Organization of American Historians (OAH) annual convention, Chicago, April, 1992.

"The Bourgeois Villein: Peasants, Communes, and the Medieval Genesis of the Modern World," 28th annual Duquesne University History Forum, Pittsburgh, Oct., 1994.

"The Unconscious Revolution: Why the Mexican Revolution was 'Non-Ideological'," 25th annual Duquesne University History Forum, Pittsburgh, Oct., 1991.

"The Era of the Common Child: Egalitarian Death in Antebellum America," 25th annual Duquesne University History Forum, Pittsburgh, Oct., 1991.

Social Science History Association (SSHA) annual convention, Wash., D.C., Nov., 1989.

"The Very Last Hurrah: The Death of the Labor Party Idea in American Politics," Social Science History Association (SSHA) annual convention, Minneapolis, Oct., 1990.

"Deliverance from Babylon: The Religious Roots of Democracy in British America," Social Science History Association (SSHA) annual convention, Minneapolis, Oct., 1990.

"Words Property of the People: The Lost Poetry of Genevieve Taggard," 24th annual Duquesne University History Forum, Pittsburgh, Oct., 1990.

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS:

"New Deal Culture and The Songs of the People:"

        • Seminar on American History Through Music, Center for American Music, University of Pittsburgh, July, 2004.

"The Hidden History of Women's Science Fiction, 1926-1965:"

        • Smithsonian Institution Travelling Exhibition, "Yesterday's Tomorrows,"

        • Mary H. Weir Public Library, Weirton, WV, October, 2003.

"Clifford Odets and the 1930s Theater of Protest:"

        • Pittsburgh Public Theater, May, 2002.

"Republican Thermidor & Democratic Consolidation in Pittsburgh, 1938-1954:"

        • Lawrenceville Historical Society, May, 2007.

        • Working-Class History Seminar, Pittsburgh Center for Social History, April, 1994.

"Eugene V. Debs as an Iconic Figure:"

        • Pitt Informal Program, University of Pittsburgh, May, 1992.

"The Age of Picture Palaces:"

        • Homestead’s 125th Anniversary Celebration, July, 2005.

        • Homestead (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, October, 2004.

        • Steel Valley Arts Council, Homestead, PA, September & October, 2004.

        • Western Pennsylvania Historical Society, May, 1989.

        • Homestead Historical Society, March, 1987.

        • Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, March, 1983.

"A Century of Homestead Labor:"

        • Homestead’s 125th Anniversary Celebration, July, 2005.

        • Homestead Historical Society, January, 2005.

        • Steel Valley Arts Council, Homestead, PA, October, 2004.

        • Homestead Historical Society, May, 1988.

        • United Steelworkers of America, Local 1397, Homestead, September, 1981.

MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS:

"Science Fiction’s Early Years:" Interview with members of the Middletown, CT, Science Fiction Club, August, 2021

"Discussion of Other Worlds SF Magazine:" Guest review, December, 2019

"Women in Early Science Fiction:" New York Review of Books, October, 2019

"Immigration Patterns:" Letter to the New York Times, August, 1993

"Was Hitler Always Hitler?:" Letter to the New York Times, May, 1990

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