On the Assembly Line: Folklore from the Factory Floor - Paperback

by Fred McTaggart (Author)

This book is a collection of folklore materials--legends, anecdotes, rumors, rituals, terminology, songs--from four UAW members who experienced life on the assembly line during the 1930s and 1960s, a period of history when manufacturing was the driving force of our economy. The older workers tell of times when the union was being created; the younger workers are grateful for the protection they had gained from the power of their union.

Author Biography

Fred McTaggart was on the staff of the UAW International Union from 1964 to 1967, serving as the community/membership relations representative for eight states--Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. He then returned to graduate school at the University of Iowa, earning a Ph.D. in English and Folklore. He has taught at the University of Missouri, University of Iowa and Western Michigan University. His nonfiction trade book, Wolf That I Am, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1976 and re-printed by University of Oklahoma Press in 1984. He is also the author of Kalamazoo County: Where Quality Is a Way of Life (Windsor Press). From 1979 until his recent retirement, he has been a self employed writer, working from his home in Kalamazoo, Michigan.