This novel tells the story of the Little Falls textile strike of 1912 from the perspective of one of its leading participants, M. Helen Schloss. She was a public health nurse and an active socialist before she came to Little Falls, New York at the invitation of a group of wealthy women. When workers at the Phoenix and Gilbert textile mills struck against wage cuts in October, she was ready to support them in every way she could. Over the next three months, Little Falls was the national focus for the growing labor movement as Socialist Party and IWW activists from around the country joined the battle. But it was not the radical celebrities of the era who won the strike. It was the largely female, immigrant workers and the two women who led them: Helen Schloss and Matilda Rabinowitz.Also included is an excerpt from Matilda's unpublished memoir, courtesy of her granddaughter Robbin Legere Henderson. Matilda went on from Little Falls to lead strikes across the country and was an active writer until very late in life. Helen, who organized medical care at the great Paterson and Ludlow strikes, vanishes from history after she went to Russia in 1921.
About the Author: The Red Nurse is the story of the 1912 textile strike in Little Falls, New York as told by one of its leaders, Helen Schloss, who later disappeared while organizing medical care in the Russian Civil War. When male leaders of the IWW at Little Falls were jailed, Helen and another organizer, Matilda Rabinowitz, stepped forward to lead the strikers to victory in early 1913. In an era of bitter labor battles and repression, the two women used peaceful methods, won public support, and convinced state political leaders to impose a settlement on the unwilling mill owners. The book is the fourth in an ongoing series based on largely forgotten figures of upstate New York history.The first book in the series, Neither Rebel Nor Tory explores the role of Hanyost Schuyler in saving the lives of hundreds of patriots besieged at Fort Stanwix in 1777. The River That Flows Both Ways is based on the life of the early Dutch explorer and physician Harmen van den Bogaert who was the first European to reach the Mohawk villages, and who was later condemned by his countrymen for violating the sexual mores of the time. Roxy Druse & The Murders of Herkimer County is the story of the last woman hung in New York State. In 1884 she was charged with the murder and dismemberment of her husband but in the novel she is remembered as a mother who gave her life for her children. The author is a student of colonial, industrial and social history and has taught on the secondary and college levels before turning to full time writing.