Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly Summary

Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor chronicles the marginalized voices and unsung heroes of the U.S. labor movement. Journalist Kim Kelly documents struggles from Reconstruction-era freed Black women to modern incarcerated workers, revealing how oppressed groups shaped labor rights. The book emphasizes intersectional battles—disability rights, sex worker protections, and Indigenous labor fights—while exposing systemic oppression by police, courts, and corporations.

Kim Kelly is an award-winning labor journalist, Teen Vogue columnist, and third-generation union member from New Jersey. A former metal music editor at Vice (where she helped unionize staff), she's written for The New York Times, The Nation, and ACLU. Her lived experience with limb difference informs her focus on disability justice in labor.

This book is essential for activists, historians, and workers seeking an inclusive labor history. It resonates with marginalized communities—LGBTQIA+, disabled, incarcerated, and immigrant workers—whose stories it centers. Union organizers and social justice advocates will gain actionable insights from its accounts of grassroots mobilization.

Absolutely. Kelly balances rigorous research with vivid storytelling, spotlighting overlooked figures like Indigenous miners and disabled laborers. Though thematic organization causes minor chronological jumps, her passionate prose and focus on ongoing struggles make it a vital, inspiring resource for understanding labor’s unfinished battles.

Kelly dedicates chapters to erased contributors: Black enslaved miners, Asian American fieldworkers fighting indentured servitude, and queer labor leaders in the civil rights movement. She details how sex workers organized Stripper Strikes, while disabled activists like Ida Mae Stull overcame exclusion in coal mining.

Some note repetitive "rah-rah" phrasing and structural hiccups—like lauding Stull as a "first" before acknowledging Black women miners predated her. However, reviewers praise Kelly’s sincerity and nuanced acknowledgment of unions’ exclusionary histories.

The book spans 150+ years, from Reconstruction-era Black labor organizing to 2020s movements like the Starbucks union drive. It connects historical wins (40-hour workweeks, child labor laws) to modern struggles at Amazon warehouses and beyond.

Kelly draws direct parallels: Depression-era garment worker strikes mirror today’s wage theft battles, while 19th-century police crackdowns on protests echo in modern union-busting tactics. Each chapter ends by examining current campaigns continuing these fights.

Kelly analyzes unions’ dual legacy: vital victories (workplace safety laws) versus exclusion of marginalized groups. She highlights progressive unions like the IWW while critiquing those that perpetuated racism or sexism—emphasizing that solidarity must be intersectional.

Unlike top-down narratives, it centers farm laborers, domestic workers, and prisoners. Kelly blends academic rigor with "blood and guts" storytelling, using original reporting to humanize figures like suffragist Frances Perkins. The book’s focus on criminalized labor is particularly groundbreaking.

As a disabled union member, Kelly prioritizes accessibility and lived experience. Her journalistic work with incarcerated workers (for ACLU) and music subcultures informs the book’s emphasis on diversity and countercultural resistance.

• Labor rights were won through violent struggle—not handed down
• Inclusion strengthens movements (e.g., LGBTQIA+ solidarity with miners)
• Modern gig economy battles mirror 19th-century exploitation
• Progress requires confronting unions’ complicity in oppression