Jerry’s Comments (group member since Aug 26, 2013)

Jerry’s comments from the Ask Jerry Ash group.

For my Goodreads friends: If you're having a hard time thinking of meaningful Christmas gifts for people you know who care about the social, political and economic issues of our time and their connection to history, here's the deal. From Black Friday till ... we are offering two copies of "Hellraiser — Mother Jones: An Historical Novel" for the price of one (paperback or ebook) at the author's website: www.jerryash.com

At the website, the price for a paperback is $15.95 and no shipping charge if both books are sent to the same address. During the sale you get two books for $15.95. Ask for autographs at no extra charge.

Ebooks are priced at $7.95. During the sale you get two ebooks for $7.95 and they can be sent to two different email addresses at no charge.

As a novel, "Hellraiser" is a more intimate account of the iconoclastic life and times of Mary Harris Jones — known as Mother Jones to thousands — fighter for the rights of the working class and the underclass from the Civil War to the Great Depression. A study in contrasts between the goals and objectives of capitalism and democracy, the book is a journey through some of the most dramatic episodes of American history from post Civil War insurrections and riots, to the historic Chicago Fire and the rise of big business and big labor.

Most importantly, the novel brings the story of Mother Jones full circle, comparing the issues of her time to the social, political and economic troubles of the present.

For details and reviews go to:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Get the BOGO at www.jerryash.com

Hellraiser — Mother Jones: An Historical Novel

TWO DAYS LEFT ON GIVEAWAY
40.1 chance as numbers grow

Offer of 10 free autographed copies of "Hellraiser — Mother Jones: An Historical Novel" ends on Saturday.

Synopsis:

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience." — George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics.

Hellraiser —Mother Jones: An Historical Novel brings Irish American Mother Jones back to renew the lessons of her history, to understand and compare the economic injustices of her time with the economic inequalities of contemporary life and to enable Mother Jones to once again call her people to action.

In history, Mary Harris Jones faces threats and jail terms, bullets and bombs to defend the American worker, the underclass — men, women and children — against the greed of robber barons like Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan and Vanderbilt.

In the end, the spirit of Mother Jones returns to find an America where economic servitude has shifted from the coal mines and sweatshops of her day to the fast food chains, big box retailers and even the high tech industries of ours. Where capitalism has robbed the people of the promises of justice, equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in what was supposed to be a democratic society. Just as she warned 100 years ago.

Hellraiser is to be launched on Monday September 22, 2013. It will be available as both pbook (soft bound - ISBN 978-0-578-12684-5) and ebook (epub and mobi - ISBN 978-0-578-12685-2).

My career titles have included journalism professor, newspaper editor/publisher, book author, state senator, association executive, management consultant and editor of a knowledge management magazine published in London, England.

Good question Dave. And I would have been frustrated by it before I researched and wrote about Mother Jones. And thought about her meanings.

I think what she had that is worth adopting now is eternal optimism, commitment, persistence, and a passion that would not be intimidated by the enormity of her task. To anyone's knowledge, she never ever admitted defeat (though she lost way more battles than she won) she never became discouraged and she never allowed herself to compromise.

Today's battle is even bigger than hers and the starting point presents a force bigger than the ruling class. This force is the very people she seeks to help, their apathy, insecurity and sense of defeat on the one hand and their false sense of well-being on the other.

Those who are pretending to have wealth by debt think they are somehow getting their fair share of the country's wealth. But, they are not. This may be a wealthy country, but it's people are not wealthy. And too many are poor, near poor, or about to become poor when they retire on Social Security.

Dave, I've admired you for years and this is no false compliment. I think you are a modern day Mother Jones. We need more, and we need to gather them together to create a unified (notice I avoided "organized") force.

“Well, honey, it’s capitalism that brings out the meanness and greed,” says I. “Our founding fathers did a decent job of framing our democracy. They wrote the Constitution and added a Bill of Rights that intended for people of all classes to enjoy the freedoms the Constitution offers. But capitalism came along without a constitution or a bill of rights and the industrialists grabbed unrestricted power. The capitalists wrote their own ‘Declaration of Capitalism’.” — Mother Jones from Hellraiser, the novel.

Just an hour before I opened this Q&A page I opened a Forum at the Mother Jones Hellraiser Club on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/HellraiserCl...

The first topic is:
About Hellraiser Forum: MoJo and our fair share.

Please post your questions here on Goodreads, then go to the Hellraiser Club to post your thoughts and opinions.

Thanks for asking, Tia.

I first became acquainted with the story of Mother Jones when I co-authored a book on West Virginia in 1976. Since then I've been a MoJo fan, reading everything I can get my hands on about her.

What I came to realize was that none of the historical literature completely covered her 65 years as a champion for working men and women and child laborers.

I decided when I retired I would redirect my energy to writing the first historical novel ever written about Mother Jones.