Based on extensive archival research, ‘The Wobblies in their Heyday’ looks at the union during the World War I era when it was able to organize militant strikes that drastically curtailed production in key industries, copper mining and lumber. It also looks at the debates within the union on how to build a broadly based movement to oppose the war. The book also details the coordinated campaign of repression launched by the administration of Woodrow Wilson with the intention of crushing the Wobblies. During World War I, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) rose to prominence as an effective, militant union and then was destroyed by a devastating campaign of repression launched by the federal government. Eric Thomas Chester’s ‘The Wobblies in Their Heyday’ documents the rise and fall of this important industrial labor organization. The Industrial Workers of the World—or “Wobblies,” as they were known—included legendary figures from U.S. labor history. Joe Hill, “Big Bill” Haywood, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn have become a part of American popular folklore. In his new book, Chester shows just how dynamic a force the IWW was in its heyday during World War I.