Last October, the Society's Cugnot Award Selection Committee presented an Award of Distinction to Lisa M. Fine's The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin and Community in Autotown, U. S. A. It was my pleasure, on behalf of the committee, to offer the remarks that accompanied the presentation of that award. I noted that while technically labor history, The Story of Reo Joe succeeds in broadening our understanding of how a city that is economically dependent on auto manufacturing functions and how the automotive industry affects the economic and social lives of the city's inhabitants, especially its blue collar workes. Fine does an excellent job of integrating the history and culture of Lansing in the story of the men and women who spent their lices and supported their families working the auto industry.

Later that month I submitted my first President Perspective column for the November-December issue of the Journal. In it I noted that "SAH is a unique organization, combining independent historians, university professors and auto enthusiasts." In response to that column, one of our Ohio members wrote me to point out the omission of autoworkers under the umbrella of our membership - at least as I defined it. A glaring omission it was, especially considering the Cugnot Award that Fine's book received.

Autoworks, often unfairly though of as just "rivetheads," represent a relatively untouched source of members for this Society. These are people who sometimes have a true passion for the auto industry and its history, as well as a deep understanding of its impact on their lives and those of their predeccessors "on the line."

Indeed, the lives (as opposed to the union activities) of autoworkers and their families have been comparatively under-studied by automotive historians. In a sense, this is merely a reflection of traditional historical myopia, wherein the leaders, be they famous for their political, economic or social exploits, have commanded far more attention (in print and media) than have the common man and woman.

Nonetheless, in addition to Fine's book, several studies have identified aspects of the lives of those who work on the shop floor that are worthy of additional attention. Brief descriptions of four for those books, chosen more to show the breadth of research in this field that for any other reason, follow. Clarence Hooker's Life in the Shadows of the Crystal Palace, 1910-1927: Ford Workers in the Model T Era provides insight into how and why Highland Park, Michigan was transformed from a small, sleepy village into an industrial boomtown, but is essentially a study of the impact of scientific management and "Fordism" on the work and home lives of the company employees.

Bennet M. Berger's Working Class Suburb: A Study of Auto Workers in Suburbia tells the story of a group of 100 Ford workers from the city who, though forced to moved in 1957 to suburban tract housing in Northern California as a result of plant relocation, still retained their working-class views and lifestyle, thus showing that the physical community itself had very little impact on the factory workers' behavior.

Ronald Edsforth's Class Conflict and Culture Consensus: The Making of a Mass Consumer Society in Flint, Michigan traces the impact of General Motors' growth on the work, everyday life and political culture of Flint, using it as a case stude to show how the economy changed from a "producer-goods" to a "consumer-goods" one. Edsforth analyzes changes in working class consciousness during the middle third of the Twentieth century, and creates a fresh perspective on the way in which autoworkers organized their economic activities, social relationships and politics.

Kathryn Mari Dudley's The End of the Line: Lost Jobs, New Live in Postindustrial America focuses on the 1988 closing of the Chrysler )former American Motors) assembly plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the socioeconomic disruption that it caused. Dudley is particularly adept at portraying the difficult and often confusing process of change experienced by autoworkers caught in the clutches of economic transition, a process in which the idea of economic progress can come into direct conflict with that of financial security. (This is a phenomenon that is still very much with us. Witness the retirement benefits quandary with which the Big Three American auto makers are currently wrestling.)

What all five of the books briefly described above have in common is attention not just to the assembly line experience of autoworkers, but also to their social, economic and political lives outside the factory, often in company towns or in residential areas that drawy their lifeblood from the auto industry. This has not always been a negative experience, and there are many past and current autoworks who feel a true kinship to the automobile (both physically and symbolically) and to the life it created/has created for them. These people have deeply personal stories to tell about the motorization of life and we should encourage them to share their experiences with others. SAH could serve as a home for them, in the same way that it has for independent historians, university professors and auto enthusiasts. Indeed, many autoworkers might classify themselves as members of the last category. They are yet another group to who we should reach out and welcome under the SAH umbrella (and Hershey tent).

- Mike Berger, SAH President