In 1959, the small town of Badger was the centre of a labour confrontation that forever changed the social and political landscape of Newfoundland. For two and a half months, loggers had been striking for better wages and working conditions. Led by the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), the strike reached its climax when national and provincial police forces stormed the town in an attempt to break the impasse. The Badger Riot tells the story of the deadly melee that followed. This work of fiction captures for the first time the horror of a small community of people still reeling in shock from a tragedy that could have been prevented.
The number one selling book in Atlantic Canada for 2008.
Winner of the 2010 Heritage and History Award.
Download a speech given by union organizer H. Landon Ladd in 1983, when he was invited back to Newfoundland to talk about the I.W.A. and the 1959 strike against the A.N.D. Company, operators of the Grand Falls paper mill.
Review Quotes
"J. A. Ricketts's The Badger Riot is a rare combination for a historical novel: It is gripping and accurate. It is historical fiction done right."
Globe and Mail
"I found myself transfixed by the story as presented by Ms. Ricketts. Though the characters are fictional they are so well done that you feel you are seeing the events unfold through their eyes. You get an acute sense of the riot which is the true mark of good historical fiction."
The Pilot
"While the book is a work of fiction, Ricketts’s human drama stays true to the facts. Her novel relates political and historical events surrounding the strike, and makes use of eye-witness accounts, but these are embedded within a family story of the author’s imagining."
The Western Star
"Ricketts is very good at setting a scene, choosing details that stay with you."
The Chronicle Herald
"The Badger Riot (Flanker Press) is a book that's hard to put down. Perhaps it's because you know that the terrible evening is coming, but it's also a page turner because of the compelling characters . . ."
The Newfoundland Herald
"Dedicated to the people of Badger and the loggers of Newfoundland, the novel is as riveting as the violent image of the riot that remains embedded in [Ricketts's] mind."
The Workers' Voice
"For readers interested in the story of Badger, the struggle for labour reforms and Newfoundland's move into the modern world, this is an excellent book."
Atlantic Books Today
"It’s actually a riveting piece of fictionized history that will have you turning pages, caught up in the building tension."
Lori's Book Nook
"The sense of time, place, character and action is vivid and compelling, and the story is very hard to put down."
Resource Links
"One of my favourite local novels of recent years . . ."
The Northeast Avalon Times
"A truly remarkable novel, which could be accurately described as an epic."
The Guardian
"A strong sense of place is created by the use of dialect as well as evocative descriptions of the natural grandeur of the area and its native past. The tension generated by a long strike is well-crafted, and when their newly formed union is abruptly decertified—an unforeseen betrayal by a well-liked politician—the reader is as stunned and dismayed as the strikers."
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