Hoffa: (Hoffa)

Arthur Sloane, as a Harvard graduate student, first met Jimmy Hoffa in 1962 and he has been fascinated by this powerful and contradictory figure ever since. Nearly three decades after that first encounter, Sloane has written a biography of the late Teamster leader, having been given full access to Hoffa's family, friends, and professional associates. "Hoffa" is a portrait of one of the most influential figures in American labour. It covers in detail all the facets of Hoffa's remarkable life and death: his rise to total dominance over the largest, strongest, and wealthiest union in American history; his neat Victorian personal habits; the legal problems that plagued his later years; and, of course, the shadowy event surrounding his presumed Mafia murder in 1975. Jimmy Hoffa's middle name was Riddle, and as Sloane points out, he was indeed a mass of contradictions. To many, Hoffa was a kind of latter day Al Capone, the dictator-president of a corrupt and overly powerful Teamsters Union. To others, he was a devoted family man and a workaholic union leader, who was both accessible to his truck driver constituents and successful in improving working conditions for them. In fact, each of these perspectives, Sloane observes, is far too limited to tell the full story of this complicated man.

Table of Contents:
The early years; the biggest small man in Detroit; at home and abroad; like confetti at a country fair; we admire the man who can deliver; Hoffa can take care of Hoffa; the lengthening shadow of the law and a stunning triumph; nobody talks back to Hoffa; "open end" contract administration; preference for the status quo; personal diplomacy, with significant interruptions; Chattanooga, Chicago, and the end of an era; No. 33-298 NE; the post-prison years; July 30, 1975, and its aftermath; Hoffa evaluated.

About the Author :
Arthur A. Sloane is Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Delaware.

Review :
"Hoffa is a welcome look at a legendary labor leader who fascinated America." Joe Dirck, The Plain Dealer "I may have faults, but being wrong ain't one of them." James R. Hoffa (1913-1975) While most recent books about Hoffa are fixated on his mob connections, Sloane presents a more complicated figure - a tough, innovative trade unionist who profoundly influenced the industry as well as the union." James Green , Boston Sunday Globe