Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Start your free trial

Already subscribed? Sign in

An Injury To One

"It's the Economy, Stupid!" • 52m

Directed by Travis Wilkerson • Documentary • 2003 • 53 minutes

AN INJURY TO ONE provides a corrective-and absolutely compelling-glimpse of a particularly volatile moment in early 20th century American labor history: the rise and fall of Butte, Montana. Specifically, it chronicles the mysterious death of Wobbly organizer Frank Little, a story whose grisly details have taken on a legendary status in the state. Much of the extant evidence is inscribed upon the landscape of Butte and its surroundings. Thus, a connection is drawn between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself.

The murder provides AN INJURY TO ONE with a taut, suspenseful narrative, but it isn't the only story. Butte's history is bound with the entire history of the American left, the rise of McCarthyism, the destruction of the environment, and even the birth of the detective novel. 

"One of American independent cinema's great achievements of the past decade." —Dennis Lim, Los Angeles Times

Tags
1917, 3'-7'-77', agitator, american (u.s.) studies, american left, american studies, americas, an injury to one, anaconda mining company, anarchism, area studies, art and architecture, biology, business, butte, citizenship, communication and media studies, copper, dashiell hammett, detective novel, documentary, ecology, econjustice, environment, expository, film, film and video studies, frank little, geography, gilded age and progressive era, history, human rights, icarus films, industrial workers of the world, iww, labor, labor and economics, labor history, labor studies, low, lynch, mccarthyism, mccarty, mine, miner, montana, music, north american studies, one big union, organizing, ovid, ovid_ca, performing arts, pinkerton, political philosophy, politics and political science, red, red harvest, s_0041, s_0079, s_0090, s_0108, s_0122, s_0124, s_0150, s_0165, s_0203, s_0231, s_0306, s_0563, s_0642, science and technology, social issues, social movements and activism, strike, the, title_i, title_ijklm, travis, u.s. history, union, united states, usa, video, wage system, wilkerson, william oldham, wobblies, wobbly, world regions, world war i, wwi

Up Next in "It's the Economy, Stupid!"

  • How to Steal a Country
    1:33:29
    How to Steal a Country

    How to Steal a Country

    Directed by Rehad Desai, co-directed by Mark Kaplan • Documentary • 2020 • 87 minutes

    [02/05/2025: Anyone see the NYT article today "What Is ‘State Capture’? A Warning for Americans." ? Here's a doc thriller about what went on in South Africa not so long ago!]

    HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY opens like ...

  • Time Thieves
    1:24:37
    Time Thieves

    Time Thieves

    Directed by Cosima Dannoritzer • Documentary • 2018 • 85 minutes

    Who hasn’t come across the situation where an airline has us printing our own boarding passes and checking in our own luggage, saving the company a fortune in working hours? Who hasn’t spent hours assembling a piece of furniture, o...

  • Family Business
    1:26:55
    Family Business

    Family Business

    Directed by Tom Cohen • Documentary • 1982 • 90 minutes

    Part of the acclaimed Middletown series.

    Howie Snyder is an archetype: a retired Marine colonel in his mid 40s, he is an American entrepreneur struggling to make his business succeed.

    Howie's Shakey's Pizza franchise in Muncie, Indiana em...

×