ebooks From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement by Matthew Garcia in History

Review

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Fascinating chapter in labor historyBy Nor Cal SteveI was very much involved with the boycott while I was in high school in Marin. I believe the years would have been 1975-77; just when things apparently were falling apart at the seams. In the fields; we weren't aware of this. The book never captures the energy of a picket line or just how we'd stand outside the grocery stores asking people to not buy grapes and trying to bumpersticker their cars. Or the huge thrill of a convention; seeing farmworkers treated like superstars and then marching single file down the highway. Of course it was the romantic stuff but it was just as much a part of the movement as anything else.The book documents the rise and the fall of the movement but it never quite expresses how exciting a time it or quite how charismatic both Cesar Chavez (and Dolores Huerta) were. Throughout the book I felt an negative bias against Chavez until the very end notes when the author sums up the experience. I also felt he enjoyed documenting the last meeting where everything unravels just a bit too much. But the story is great and there are so many lessons to be learned. Cesar did a tremendous amount of good and was a victim to his own fame or burnout or bad influences. But if doesn't negate what anyone did and it was a great moment in time.11 of 15 people found the following review helpful. very interesting bookBy Mark bennettThis is a pull no punches but fair reapprasal of Cesar Chavez and the UFW movement he led. Its strong points is that it provides good windows into the history of the UFW before and after it was on the national media radar. It tends to have much good to say about the man who built the movement in its early days and little good to say what the movement turned into after the mid-to-late 1970s. Its a good and fair antidote to the many haliographic books written about the man.The book isn't perfect however. The author tends to see Chavez as a bigger figure than he often was and see a relivance in issues today that is often questionable such as those concerned with "better" food or "local" food. He also tends to make some rather questionable contrasts between the Chavez movement and other political movements of the 1970s.He also fails sometimes to see the big picture. That the movement's supposed strength in its appeal support beyond the workers themselves was both what led it to a kind of victory and led to its demise. He tends to ignore the contradictions within the movement and simply blame Chavez. He fails to understand that what "La Paz" turned into was what many of the more wealthy and influential supporters of the movement wanted. That those people were often ar more interested in a hardcore political training center in a nice remote area than they were in the "boring" business of organizing workers and running a union day to day near the fields.He also tends not to understand the literal price of "fame" in a media sense. That those figures the national media "makes"; it demands things of in exchange and will "break" those same people if they don't play the game. Chavez played the game. More recently; Julian Assange somewhat shows what happens to those who do not.This is an interesting book. There was the potential in the material for a great book if the author had seen a more broad political vision of why what he sees as a "tragedy" happened. Its still worthy of high praise that he was willing to push at the status quo and present the most well rounded book about Chavez and the UFW ever done. Thats why in spite of a variety of faults I still rate it very highly.2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Very interesting read.By NichiBought this book on my iPad and started reading during jury duty. Great read. Very interesting and informative well written book.