For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America

Seeking to reclaim a history that has remained largely ignored by most historians, this dramatic and stirring account examines each of the definitive American cooperative movements for social change—farmer, union, consumer, and communalist—that have been all but erased from collective memory. Focusing far beyond one particular era, organization, leader, or form of cooperation, the expansive analysis documents the multigenerational struggle of the American working people for social justice. With an expansive sweep and breathtaking detail, the chronicle considers Native American times and follows the American worker from the colonial workshop to the modern mass-assembly line, ultimately painting a vivid panorama of those who built the United States and those who will shape its future.

John Curl is a professional woodworker, a former city planning commissioner, and a 30-year member of Heartwood Cooperative Workshop in Berkeley, California. He is the author of seven books of poetry and several historical books, including History of Work Cooperation in America and Memories of Drop City. He lives in Berkeley, California.

"It is indeed inspiring . . . to be reminded by John Curl's new book of the noble history of cooperative work in the United States."  —Howard Zinn, author, A People's History of the United States

"Curl surveys all and explains much. New generations of readers will find this a fascinating account."  —Paul Buhle, coeditor, Encyclopedia of the American Left, and founding editor, Radical America journal