Borda (communications, University of New Hampshire) charts representations of women labor activists and whistle blowers in nine Hollywood movies and independent documentaries made between 1954 and 2005: Salt of the Earth, The Pajama Game, Union Maids, With Babies and Banners, Norma Rae, Silkwood, Live Nude Girls Unite!, Erin Brokovich, and North Country. The author evaluates the rhetorical form and content of each film to determine how film structure and style, as well as story elements such as plot, character development, and setting, influence how the story gets told. She examines how films have played a role in shaping our ideas about the political impact and cultural significance of various social experiments, and how the cultural conversations produced by the media construct our ideas about women, social classes, and working-class culture. B&w film stills are included. Versions of the three of the book's chapters have appeared in various communication journals. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)