Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth

"A fountain of information. . . Alter does an excellent job of showing the persistence of the agrarian radical impulse." --Southwestern Historical Quarterly

"Alter's Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth is a highly readable, extensively researched contribution to our understanding of Southwestern radicalism. Both seasoned scholars and beginning students will benefit." --Western Historical Quarterly

"Masterful. . . . Alter’s clear writing and well-argued analysis provides students of the Texas Socialist movement a newly congruent foundation. To repeat, this is the book to read first." --Kyle Wilkinson, Labor Online

"Alter's careful attention to Socialists in Texas provides an excellent case study of the numerous forces that affect political agendas. He convincingly demonstrates that revolutions beyond the borders of the United States directly shaped the course of radical platforms in Texas, and he shows how even these radicals could not fully escape the grasp of white supremacy." --Journal of Southern History

"In this thoroughly researched and clearly written study of radical politics and ideas, historian Thomas Alter II argues that German transplants to rural Texas contributed to building a farmer-labor bloc that significantly shaped American politics from Reconstruction to the 1920s." --Pacific Historical Review

"In Towards a Cooperative Commonwealth, Alter provides a powerful example of how history can converse with the present. . . . His work deftly and naturally provides historical perspective into contemporary issues, clearly demonstrating that a certain degree of presentism within the profession is not only possible but often necessary. . . . Alter's work is an exceptional example of both quality scholarship and the role historians can and should have in the world today." --Journal of Arizona History

"The Meitzens -- and Alter's book -- are too important for scholars of labor and American political radicalism to ignore. Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth should further appeal to a broader audience of scholars of immigration and transnational history, while lay readers will find it a rich and rewarding experience." --Journal of the Gilded Age

"This engaging study moves easily from family history to broad movements for justice. It shows farmer-labor alliances as a persistent, important presence from Silesia to Texas. Alter tells a fascinating story of how solidarity with Mexican revolutionaries challenged white supremacy across borders."--David Roediger, author of The Sinking Middle Class: A Political History

"Alter narrates the rise and fall of an agrarian radical movement in Texas that brought unlikely partners together, albeit temporarily. German origin families such as the Meitzens collaborated with African Americans and Mexican Americans to create a commonwealth based on mutual benefits and centered on land, until reactionary forces in Texas and beyond quashed the movement. Alter's account shows the crucial role of land in the history of class struggle and class alliances."--Sonia Hernández, author of For a Just and Better World: Engendering Anarchism in the Mexican Borderlands, 1900–1938