Tragedies and Fortunes: A Memoir

As a boy in the 1930s, Kenneth Moore experienced the misery of the Great Depression firsthand. When he grew up after having watched President Franklin Roosevelt work furiously to rescue a population from joblessness and poverty, Moore became a union organizer and executive in the positions of international vice president of BRT and UTU.

Over a lifetime of fighting for the working man and woman, Moore faced death threats, a stabbing, a robbery, and relentless opposition. He traveled the world for the cause of labor and witnessed history. Now Moore looks back on that life in a sweeping memoir that is the story of a man, a movement, a family tapestry, and a rich meditation on some pivotal and horrific moments of the past: Hiroshima (with never-before-released survivor interviews), the Holocaust, and the atrocities done to Native Americans.

Tragedies and Fortunes is a fascinating insider's look at the rise of organized labor and the times in which it came to be. It's a tale of heroes and villains, of struggles against greed and triumphs for good. It's a great American story, a life lived in devotion to a cause, and one man's lessons from the past that may help all of us make better choices for our future.