Gabriel Thompson - Americas Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century

This is my first attempt at writing history and biography. Having never set foot inside an archive, I knew I would need plenty of help. As it turned out, I needed a lot more than I imagined. Fortunately, I got it.

Fred Ross Jr. provided enthusiastic cooperation from the very beginning. Over the course of six years, he spoke with me countless times and connected me to many former members of the Community Service Organization and United Farm Workers. He dug up boxes of old letters and photographs and reviewed a draft of the book, offering suggestions, corrections, and clarifications. His support was critical, and I am grateful for it. Rosss two other children, Julia and Bob, were also unfailingly generous with their time, sharing documents and memoriessome quite painfulthat helped fill in little-known aspects of their fathers life.

Several colleagues shared valuable research, observations, and writerly advice. Miriam Pawel went out of her way, many times, to answer obscure questions and track down bits of information. She also read and commented on the book, improving it greatly. Thanks as well to my other reader, Frank Bardacke, who pointed out a number of gaps and raised important questions to grapple with. Both have written groundbreaking histories of Cesar Chavez and the UFW that informed this book. Jeff Miller of Utica College, who is completing a book about Syracuses War on Poverty project, also provided documents critical to my understanding of that period.

The bibliography lists the people I interviewed, and I extend heartfelt thanks to each. LeRoy Chatfield deserves special mention, as he has labored for years to create the Farmworker Movement Documentation Project, an invaluable online archive that I relied on extensively. Thanks also to Gretchen Laue, whose book about the CSO I eagerly await. And, of course, thanks to the librarians at each archive I visited; they were, without exception, helpful and patient. I made especially heavy use of Stanfords Special Collections and University Archives, where the Fred Ross Papers are deposited, and often relied on the expertise of librarian Tim Noakes.

I completed this book while a Steinbeck Fellow in Creative Writing at San Jose State University, which provided much needed financial support at exactly the right moment. I was also extremely fortunate to have the backing of 150 individuals through a Kickstarter campaign, whose contributions allowed me to visit several archives and enjoy protected time to write. An especially hearty thanks to Kickstarter backers Tom Cassutt, Joni and Billy Greenfield, Don Greif, and Jim and Elana Ponet. (And, of course, Budd and Ruth Rockower, who have made so many dreams possible.)

Peter Dreier introduced me to Fred Ross Jr., a connection that got the ball rolling. And Peter Richardson connected me to Niels Hooper at the University of California Press, which turned out to be a perfect publishing home for the book. At UC Press I am also indebted to Bradley Depew for keeping me on track and to Julie Van Pelt for skilled copyediting. Thanks also to my agent, Michael Bourret, who always has my back.

My parents, Jim Thompson and Sandra Hietala, have been unabashed supporters of my earlier projects. This time was no different. I also received regular bouts of inspiration from my ninety-four-year-old grandfather, Ralph Hietala, who continues to spin out amazing poetry. My wife, Daniella Ponet, has patiently lived with this book for many years, including a few in which it was not at all clear where it was heading. She even agreed to move across the country so I could work on itbefore I had so much as a contract. (Yes, Im lucky.) As with my previous books, she has been a supportive partner and extraordinary editor. And who could forget our exuberant son, five-year-old Rafi, who already knows quite a bit about Fred Ross, and our daughter, Laylah, who was born two days after I turned in the manuscript. Whatever they end up doing, may they do it with the kind of passion that Ross brought to the world.