For today’s show, Allen is joined by David Ranney to discuss his new book, Living and Dying on the Factory Floor. Written as a memoir, the book describes his firsthand experiences as an industrial worker in the factories of southeast Chicago and northwest Indiana between 1976 and 1982 and offers an opportunity to reflect on race and class, working conditions, environmental issues, and the social and political climate of the 1970s in the Midwest.

David Ranney is Professor Emeritus in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has also been a factory worker, a labor and community organizer, and an activist academic. He is the author of five books, including Living and Dying on the Factory Floor: From the Outside In and the Inside Out (PM Press, 2019).

David Ranney will be in Madison for an author event at A Room of One’s Own (315 W. Gorham St.) on Wednesday, April 24 at 6:00 PM. More information here.