A Dozen Questions for Discussion

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1. Shea has a sense that his outlook differs from most of his peers even before his entry into the shipyard. How so? Does he primarily identify as white or working class—or both? What are the implications of that for his later activism and leadership?

2. As the first phase of modern industrial decline sparked fear in mid-Seventies Boston, the battle over school desegregation embroiled the city in a virtual race war. Shipyard workers of all colors—including a small number of women—were forced to work side by side at the convergence those upheavals. How did the larger social crises influence the reform movement inside the shipyard? How do the dynamics of deindustrialization and racial conflict spill over into the book’s universal themes of respect and dignity as the engines of justice?

3. At several points in the story, the union’s old guard is clearly more concerned about securing new work for the shipyard than about safety or racial discrimination. Shea is threatened several times—and then brought up on charges—for allegedly jeopardizing current jobs and future work by pursuing or publicizing grievance issues. How should a union balance all those concerns? (Pp113-114, 241-246, 250-256, 261-263, 304-307)

4. Discuss the initial decision that Shea and Patty made to hide their relationship from the rest of the shipyard (Chapters Pp186-89, 195-98). Did their choice conciliate with racist attitudes or was it just a smart practical move? Similarly, how do you feel about the way(s) that Shea approached talking to white workers about racism and racial discrimination? (Pp24-25, 42-45, 190-192, 209, 213-215, 233-234, 247-249) About his betrayal of Patty’s trust? (Pp282-286)

5. After Shea moves to Dorchester, the troublesome (and violent) émigré bar near his house burns down. In the aftermath, Ramos gives Shea his opinion of the status of minority workers in the yard. What do you think of his analysis? Was the apparent arson of the bar justified? (Pp221-225)

6. Despite the hardhat support for Keefer and the women’s pregnancy rights, the union is willing to trade away their gains in the following contract. Rashford doesn’t seem worried about blowback from the same broad center that signed the women’s petition. How come? (Pp177-182)

7. During the strike, Slidell crosses the picket line, undercutting white and black workers’ alike. He is clearly resentful of both the company and the union. Later he protects Magdalena from a racist assault at Wollaston beach. On balance, is he a “good guy” or a “bad guy”? (Pp135-136, 226-231)

8. Cape Verdean welders don’t say much in the book, but their actions have an outsize impact on Shea’s development and trajectory in the shipyard. How so? (Pp24-25, 42-45, 47-50, 65, 161-162 299, 311-314)

9. Welding superintendent Charley Johnson and General Foreman Pete Rosa are both torn by their belief in “up by the bootstraps”. To some extent both also use their positions to help out what they deem to be “their own kind”. Are their tribal instincts qualitatively different from those of Rashford, the union president? Why does Johnson’s role infuriate Cotty? (Pp47-50, 137-138, 207-209, 239-240)

10. The Goliath is the shipyard’s largest crane. The name is also a metaphor for the company and, in a larger sense, the economic structure within which the hardhats labor. Near the end of the book the author writes that “(t)he hardhats peered up at the god of power and motion they had built and then worshipped. They understood at last, with frightening clarity. It was an idol.” (P280) What does that mean?

11. Political scientist Ernst Fraenkel argued that dictatorships come to power by applying special step-by-step restrictions to targeted populations that exist alongside a “normative state” that is privileged by contrast. How were petty privileges like trade categories and job assignments leveraged toward similar ends in the shipyard by both the company and the union’s old guard? Does the authoritarian workplace mirror current social and political dynamics?(Pp32-33, 41-42, 153-154, 166-169, 190, 200-201, 210-212, 262-263, 277)

12. What decision do you think Shea makes at the end of the story? Where do you think he goes from there?