Ten books about the importance of the postal service

Jae-Yeon Yoo is a volunteer intern at Electric Literature.

She tagged "ten books in which letters and the postal service—or lack thereof—play a crucial role." One title on the list:

There’s Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality by Philip F. Rubio

The Postal Service was the first public service to hire women and Black workers, and continues to have one of the most diverse workforces today. There’s Always Work at the Post Office highlights the stories of Black postal workers, and the ways in which they fought for a more equal work environment. A history professor and former postal worker, Philip Rubio shows how civil rights movements and Black labor protest traditions combined to help establish postal unions in 1971. For another analytic look that discusses how gender, race, and class play out within the USPS, try Linda B. Benbow’s Sorting Letters, Sorting Lives: Delivering Diversity in the United States Postal Service.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue