“Traces the shifting arguments made by the workers and the politicians who sought to transform an agency that was fiercely opposed to transformation.”- Kelefa Sanneh, <i>The New Yorker</i><br /><br />“It is this history of segregation, and of resistance to it, that Goldberg chronicles masterfully, from firehouse fistfights to fraternal organizations to federal litigation.”- <i>Gotham Center for New York History</i><br /><br />“Works hard to remind us, powerfully at times, about black firefighters' courage, persistent struggle against discrimination, and efforts to work the system for greater racial equity.”- <i>Journal of American History</i><br /><br />“A welcome contribution to literature on race and labor in American cities. . . . Goldberg reminds us how central public employment has been to the economic and political struggles of African Americans over the past century.”- <i>Journal of African American History</i><br /><br />“Provides a relentless display of facts, figures, and insights in narrating this black labor resistance to intransigent white supremacy. He does so with an able collection of archival evidence, oral histories, and a survey of secondary literature, all told as a gripping story that includes some memorable individuals and concludes with a qualified upbeat ending--at least for now.”- <i>American Historical Review</i>