The Union of Their Dreams

 Eliseo Medina was a teenage farmworker, longing for a way out of the fields. Chris Hartmire was a Phi Beta Kappa minister, searching for a cause. Jerry Cohen was a brash young lawyer, looking for a righteous fight. Each found answers in the audacious crusade of a soft-spoken, iron-willed man: Cesar Chavez.



They joined an eclectic cast of thousands who journeyed from fields, churches, and campuses, drawn to la causa by its charismatic leader. A brilliant risk-taker and strategist, Chavez mobilized support to build a union that accomplished the unthinkable: dignity and contracts for farmworkers. His impact spread far beyond the California fields where he began; a generation of Americans came of age marching for justice and boycotting grapes, swept up in a movement that changed their lives. 



Four decades later, Chavez’s likeness graces postage stamps. Dozens of streets and schools are named in his honor. But the real story of Cesar Chavez and his farm worker movement—its historic triumphs and its tragic disintegration—has remained stubbornly elusive, shrouded in legend.



Drawing on a rich trove of unpublished documents and exhaustive interviews, award-winning journalist Miriam Pawel finally unravels this vital chapter of American history in a haunting, intimately reported narrative. With a novelist’s empathy and a historian’s care, Pawel chronicles the well-known story of how Chavez built the first successful union for farmworkers—and the lesser-known story of how he tore it down. The Union of Their Dreams weaves the stories of key participants into a powerful portrait of a movement, from the heady excitement of the early David-versus-Goliath victories through the pain and disillusionment of the later years, when Chavez faltered in the transition from firebrand to union leader.



The Union of Their Dreams  is a spellbinding narrative that offers the definitive account of Chavez and the United Farm Workers, a milestone in the struggle for social justice in America.

"In this sympathetic yet courageously honest narrative, a seasoned reporter presents the history behind the legend of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers Movement. At the same time, Miriam Pawel pays tribute to the dreams of a generation of young Americans dedicated to social justice and the dignity of labor." - Kevin Starr, author of Golden Dreams and California: A History

"A revealing celebration of activists in the glory days of a movement for change." Kirkus Reviews

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