Madison BookBeat

Madison BookBeat


Frank Emspak, "Troublemaker: Saying No to Power," part 2

March 06, 2023

Stu Levitan welcomes WORT’S own Frank Emspak for a special pledge drive conversation about his new memoir Troublemaker: Saying No to Power.


You may know Frank most recently as Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin School for Workers, and the co-founder and co-producer of Madison Labor News and the Workers Independent News Services. Those of you of a certain age may recall his service in the sixties and early seventies as chair of the UW Socialist Club then chair of the National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam, later chair of the group People Against Racism and a doctoral candidate in the history department. But between those two Madison eras of his career, he was in Massachusetts as a member of the industrial working class, union official and consultant to state government. In just one 3-year period, 1972-1975, he moved from Ph D student to senior lab technician to machinist to a laborer working in a foundry All in all, a pretty amazing life, recounted very well in Troublemaker.


Part one of the conversation aired Oct. 31, 2022.