Book cover of We Can't Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard

Book description

This story explodes the popular belief that women white-collar workers tend to reject unionization and accept a passive role in the workplace. On the contrary, the women workers of Harvard University created a powerful and unique union--one that emphasizes their own values and priorities as working women and rejects unwanted…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked We Can't Eat Prestige as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John Hoerr captures the fun-loving, irreverent, and unorthodox union culture Harvard secretaries and “support” staff built in the 1970s and 1980s and reveals how they organized and won what no one thought possible.

After Harvard admitted defeat in 1988 and recognized the union, workers doubled their salary, gained job security and flexibility, and remade a workplace culture steeped in elitism and sexism. “We wanted dignity, democracy, and a dental plan,” the union’s lead organizer, Kris Rondeau, once quipped. And they got it.

Read this book to laugh, read this book to believe once again in how creative and transformative unions…

From Dorothy's list on how working women changed the world.

If you love We Can't Eat Prestige...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like We Can't Eat Prestige?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 70 books like We Can't Eat Prestige.

Browse books like We Can't Eat Prestige

Book cover of To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors After the Civil War
Book cover of Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America
Book cover of Marching Together: Women of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,366

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like We Can't Eat Prestige, you might also like...

Book cover of Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS by Amy Carney,

When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…

Book cover of A Forgivable Indecision

A Forgivable Indecision by Shawn Jennings,

In 1913, a 15-year-old pregnant girl was found dead of apparent suicide. Dr. James Wilson, a new graduate and the first doctor ever to start a practice in this rural town, feels guilty over her death because of his delayed intervention.

He knows Bessie was raped by one of her…

5 book lists we think you will like!