The Master of Seventh Avenue is the definitive biography of David Dubinsky, one of the most controversial and influential labor leaders in 20th-century America. A “character” in the truest sense of the word, Robert D. Parmet reveals that Dubinsky was both revered and reviled, but never dull, conformist, or bound by convention. A Jewish labor radical, Dubinsky became president of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) in 1932 and went on to lead it for thirty-four years. Dubinsky famously championed “social unionism,” which offered workers benefits ranging from health care to housing.  

 

Dubinsky's boundless energy was not limited solely to labor, and The Master of Seventh Avenue chronicles the activist’s influential role as in local, national, and international politics. An extraordinary personality whose life and times present a fascinating lens into the American labor movement, Dubinsky leaps off of the pages of Parmet’s meticulously-researched and vividly-detailed biography. 

 

The paperback edition of The Master of Seventh Avenue: David Dubinsky and the American Labor Movement was made possible with the generous support of the 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund.