It was war on the streets of New York. Trucks and stores firebombed, workers beaten and stabbed, shop owners terrorized by goons using strongarm tactics. While public officials and politicians looked the other way, a brilliant but ruthless business empire squared off against nine desperate unions - one with mafia ties - convinced they must fight or die. It was a war for one of America's great newspapers. And both sides seemed willing to destroy the paper to save it.

The Daily News strike of 1990 was one of the most expensive, viciously fought, dramatic actions in American labor history. But it was also one battle in a larger and far more important war over the future of the American workplace, one episode in an economic, social, and moral revolution changing the lives of tens of millions of working Americans as the thrilling, painful post-industrial rebirth of the American economy radically restructures relations between employer and employee, labor and management.

1. In this brave new economy how can managers bent on rebuilding the work ethic of failing firms avoid war in the workplace? How can we protect workers without crippling the productivity of post-industrial factories? How we resolve these battles "will largely determine how productive our workplaces will be, how happy and prosperous their workers and their families, and the social and moral character of this society," says Richard Vigilante.

With the power of an intellectual blockbuster and the punch of a great novel, Strike transforms a labor conflict of epic proportions into a guide to the future of the American workplace and the urgent needs of a new economic era. Strike is a must read for anyone concerned for the renaissance of American industry or the future of American labor.