The Master of Seventh Avenue: David Dubinsky and the American Labor Movement
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The Master of Seventh Avenue is the definitive biograph...)
The Master of Seventh Avenue is the definitive biography of David Dubinsky (1892—1982), one of the most controversial and influential labor leaders in 20th-century America. A “character” in the truest sense of the word, Dubinsky was both revered and reviled, but never dull, conformist, or bound by convention. A Jewish labor radical, Dubinsky fled czarist Poland in 1910 and began his career as a garment worker and union agitator in New York City. He quickly rose through the ranks of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’Union (ILGWU) and became its president in 1932. Dubinsky led the ILGWU for thirty-four years, where he championed “social unionism,” which offered workers benefits ranging from health care to housing. Moving beyond the realm of the ILGWU, Dubinsky also played a leading role in the American Federation of Labor (AFL), particularly during World War II. A staunch anti-communist, Dubinsky worked tirelessly to rid the American labor movement of communists and fellow-travelers.
Robert D. Parmet also chronicles Dubinsky’s influential role in local, national, and international politics. An extraordinary personality whose life and times present a fascinating lens into the American labor movement, Dubinsky leaps off the pages of this meticulously researched and vividly detailed biography.
Robert David Parmet, American historian, educator. Fellow, Woodrow Wilson National Foundation, 1960, City University of New York, 1994.
Background
Parmet, Robert David was born on December 11, 1938 in New York City. Son of Isaac and Fanny (Scharf) Parmet.
Education
Bachelor, City College of New York, 1960. Master of Arts, Columbia University, 1961. Doctor of Philosophy, Columbia University, 1966.
Career
Fellow City College of New York, 1960-1962, lecturer, 1962-1965. Assistant professor Newark State College, Union, New Jersey, 1965-1967, City University of New York, Jamaica, New York, 1967-1970, associate professor, 1971-1977, chairman department history, 1972-1975, professor, since 1978.
Achievements
Robert David Parmet has been listed as a noteworthy historian, educator by Marquis Who's Who.
Member of Labor and Working Class History Association, Immigration History Society, American Jewish History Association, Southern History Association, New York Labor History Association (member executive board since 1990), Connecticut History Society, Academy Political Science, Organization American Historians, American History Association, Phi Alpha Theta.