A working stuff, a hobo, and an irreconcilable revolutionist…second only to Joe Hill as the IWW’s most popular songwriter, T-Bone Slim incontestably was the Wobblie’s greatest man of letters. For two decades readers of IWW publications recognized him as the Union’s most noted columnist. America’s finest hobo wordsmith and a remarkable aphorist, he also merits a place among the great American humorists. The aim of the present volume is to make available for the first time a representative selection of work by an important author who has suffered undeserved neglect. Every message of pure revolt deserves to be heard, and T-Bone Slim’s is one of the purest. His writing at its best has a remarkable flair, a deep and dazzling humor, a profound awareness of the sensuous alchemy of words. It also happens to be unlike anything else in the world. [From the Introduction by Franklin Rosemont]
