The Crusades of Cesar Chavez

Posted on 15 April 2018 by Miriam Pawel

Cesar Chavez founded a labor union, launched a movement, and inspired a generation He rose from migrant worker to national icon, becoming one of the great charismatic leaders of the 20th century Two decades after his death, Chavez remains the most significant Latino leader in US history Yet his life story has been told only in hagiography until now.In the first comprehensive biography of Chavez, Miriam Pawel offers a searching yet empathetic portrayal Chavez emerges here as a visionary figure with tragic flaws a brilliant strategist who sometimes stumbled and a canny, streetwise organizer whose pragmatism was often at odds with his elusive, soaring dreams He was an experimental thinker with eclectic passions an avid, self educated historian and a disciple of Gandhian non violent protest Drawing on thousands of documents and scores of interviews, this superbly written life deepens our understanding of one of Chavez s most salient qualities his profound humanity.Pawel traces Chavez s remarkable career as he conceived strategies that empowered the poor and vanquished California s powerful agriculture industry, and his later shift from inspirational leadership to a cult of personality, with tragic consequences for the union he had built The Crusades of Cesar Chavez reveals how this most unlikely American hero ignited one of the great social movements of our time. Download The Crusades of Cesar Chavez By Miriam Pawel – kino-fada.fr I didn t know much about Cesar Chavez before getting this book I was shocked at all of the ugly stuff that was in this book, but the good definitely out weighs the bad I suppose every hero has his blemishes and I will make sure I readaccounts of this movement History is a messy thing and ...The only comprehensive volume on the legendary leader Cesar Chavez, Miriam Pawel attempts to make a man out of the legend The last biography on Cesar Chavez was by Jaques Levy written in 1975 A series of oral stories, it helps frame what he meant to people at the time, but doesn t firmly place his role in the movement Pawel unearths all of the audiotapes that Cesar Chavez made for that book and other audio She is able to recreate the man over the course of his life The level of detail from The only comprehensive volume on the legendary leader Cesar Chavez, Miriam Pawel attempts to make a man out of the legend The last biography on Cesar Chavez was by Jaques Levy written in 1975 A series of oral stories, it helps frame what he meant to people at the time, but doesn t firmly place his role in the movement Pawel unearths all of the audiotapes that Cesar Chavez made for that book and other audio She is able to recreate the man over the course of his life The level of detail from his early CSO days until his death is quite remarkable Although the story could use better narration, showing us the man is farpowerful than attempting to frame the saint It s interesting that a movie of his life came out the same time as this book, the movie furthers this legend, but only the book shows us the man.Pawel pulls back the layers of Chavez s life His immigrant past, his parent s succe...This is an in depth, totally honest must read, based on thousands of hours of audiotapes, notes and .Pawel, in the first critical biography of Chavez, gives us the good, the bad, and the ugly in the life of the man who gave California s farmworkers their first union, then, due to stubbornness, wrongly directed singlemindedness and authoritarian leadership, wrecked it.Pawel quotes Chavez talking about that singlemindedness That was part of his genius in getting the United Farm Workers st This is an in depth, totally honest must read, based on thousands of hours of audiotapes, notes and .Pawel, in the first critical biography of Chavez, gives us the good, the bad, and the ugly in the life of the man who gave California s farmworkers their first union, then, due to stubbornness, wrongly directed singlemindedness and authoritarian leadership, wrecked it.Pawel quotes Chavez talking about that singlemindedness ...A biography of Cesar Chavez that is as thoroughly researched and balanced as it is well written The author, Miriam Pawel, has clear sympathy for the farm worker movement s efforts to organize and obtain fair wages and working conditions for the workers Her portrait of Chavez s efforts to lead and inspire the workers and to gain other labor union support and allies from all over the country is one of admiration Pawel describes the early successes both in obtaining many contracts and in buildin A biography of Cesar Chavez that is as thoroughly researched and balanced as it is well written The author, Miriam Pawel, has clear sympathy for the farm worker movement s efforts to organize and obtain fair wages and working conditions for the workers Her portrait of Chavez s efforts to lead and inspire the workers and to gain other labor union support and allies from all over the country is one of admiration Pawel describes th...This book takes on two massive subjects Chavez and the farmworker s movement and struggles under the weight No stone is left unturned, but not enough space or overarching narrative helps to carry it The result is a really dens...Jesse Jackson once described himself as a tree shaker, not a jelly maker That description certainly applies to Cesar Chavez Chavez was a born troublemaker He had a superb ability to draw attention to a problem, and rally people to battle against it This was both his strength and his weakness Initially, his skill was used for the good of farmworkers, drawing attention to their horrible working conditions After this brilliant success, however, paranoia overtook Chavez He seemed to have a Jesse Jackson once described himself as a tree shaker, not a jelly maker That description certainly applies to Cesar Chavez Chavez was a born troublemaker He had a superb ability to draw attention...An excellent biography that avoids hagiography and provides a holistic view of Cesar Chavez Miriam Pawel s knowledge of the UFW and her connections within it allow a perspective that is unique As the first major biography of Chavez, this will be a primary source for future scholars.This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here Extremely thorough, critical biography of Cesar Chavez To me the book has a lot of missing parts The author portrays Chavez as essentially a cult of personality meglomaniac who couldn t stand anyone questioning his authority, vision, or decisions The author also portrays UFW as a union that essentially failed the farmworkers The book emphasizes the negativesthan the positives, which makes me think, really could all this be possibly true Did the author fail to provide information about Extremely thorough, critical biography of Cesar Chavez To me the book has a lot of missing parts The author portrays Chavez as essentiall...I loved how the book gave a full view of Cesar Chavez s character, not just highlighting his strengths, but also his struggles Showing not just his political stances though controversial at times , but also an interpretation of the perspective behind them, such his evolving stance on border control Before reading this book, all that came to my mind with the name Cesar Chavez was the boycotting of grapes, particularly for Mexicans It s interesting reading about his role and interactions with I loved how the book gave a full view of Cesar Chavez s character, not just highlighting his strengths, but also his struggles Showing not just his political stances though controversial at times , but also an interpretation of the perspective behind them, such his evolving stance on border control Before reading this book, all that came to my mind with the nam...A very illuminating look at Cesar Chavez Maybe not the best book for someone who has never read much about him to begin with.Overall, it is a precautionary tale of how a born leader can get caught up in personal control and ego driven visions While Chavez original drive to improve the lives of marginalized farm workers in the West was compelling and inspiring, his later quests to build a Shangri La and increasing paranoia and mistrust of others was disturbing.Not sure where to go now anothe A very illuminating look at Cesar Chavez Maybe not the best book for someone who has never read much about him to begin with.Overall, it is a pr...

English
15 April 2018

Miriam Pawel