{"product_id":"9780807054536","title":"The Cruel Years: American Voices at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Cruel Years\u003c\/i\u003e provides readers with a vivid picture of what life was like a hundred years ago, not for the rich and famous but for ordinary working Americans. The story is told in the words of twenty-two fascinating people who lived by laboring long hours at farms and factories and mines. A preface by Howard Zinn and an introduction by William Loren Katz provide an easy-to-follow historical map that places these hard-hitting, first-person narratives in the context of their troubled times and within the larger picture of U.S. growth and development.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere are the no-nonsense words of a young immigrant trying to survive as a sweatshop operator in New York City, a hard working farmer's wife who has writing ambitions; a black southern sharecropper seeking fulfillment under a new system of slavery; a young Puerto Rican passing the Statue of Liberty and ready for new challenges; a Chinese immigrant, a Mexican immigrant, and a Japanese immigrant struggling to rise from lower rungs on the social and economic ladder; an Irish girl of sixteen deciding to become a political agitator; a black southern woman trying to fend off the hurts of Jim Crow; a coal miner telling of the lethal dangers of his work; and a black cowhand rejoicing in the thrill of the cattle trails.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Beacon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47011734094064,"sku":"9780807054536","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780807054536_p0.jpg?v=1763738658","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780807054536","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}