STOPPING THE TRAIN:
The Landmark Victory Over
Same-Sex Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
by Edwin Berry Martin, Jr.
With an an appendix of resources for victims of sexual harassment

ISBN 1-929175-08-6. Trade hardcover, 6"x9", 184 pp.

$24.95. Available now for immediate delivery

Between late November 1993 until April 4, 1996, in Birmingham, Alabama, a career railroad man's livelihood was destroyed by same-sex sexual harassment. Eddie Martin, a mechanical maintenance supervisor with Norfolk Southern Corporation, was subjected to horrific harassment at work by a gang of sexual thugs. The actions and words hurled at Eddie from his three attackers forced him to withdraw from life. As he felt the last of his mental and physical faculties slipping away, he decided to fight back in the only way he could: he took Norfolk Southern and his attackers to court.

On March 4, 1998, the Supreme Court amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include same-sex sexual harassment. Eddie Martin's successful suit against Norfolk Southern was the first to achieve tangible justice as a result of the Supreme Court's decision that same-sex sexual harassment not only existed but was actionable under federal law. This powerful true story, told in first person, provides details on Eddie's unique story and his landmark case.

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THE REVIEWERS ARE UNANIMOUS: "A POWERFUL BOOK"

From Kirkus Reviews: " Indisputably an important window into a little-discussed social abuse, fed here by gender and class volatility and contemporary blue-collar angst." A disturbing, though overwrought, odyssey through same-sex harassment in the workplace, in this case the improbable, dangerous setting of an Alabama railroad yard. Martin was a third-generation railroad man, with 14 years on the job on the Norfolk Southern line, when his position in South Carolina was eliminated and he was offered a promotion and transfer to the high-volume Birmingham yard. Because he thought tradition and the work's inherent stress had made the railroad an amiable fraternity, he was shocked to find hostility, expressed by three workers in grossly sexual terms. The harassment followed a well-established pattern, both in its escalation and in the futility of Martin's complaints to supervisors, and when he finally filed a lawsuit, his confidentiality was breached and he ultimately became a pariah at work after the union employed heavy-handed tactics to protest the harassers' termination. Martin's detailed narrative shows how, despite nightmares and social paranoia ultimately diagnosed as PTSD, he rebuilt his life with the aid of a woman he met and married in Birmingham. When Martin's case came to trialat the same time as a more widely-reported case stemming from same-sex harassment on an offshore oil rig, he emerged triumphant with a six-figure settlement, despite a hostile judge and a phalanx of opposing attorneys whose defense largely consisted of distraction and smear tactics. Martin is an enthusiastic but trying author, resorting frequently to purple similes, repetitive emotional rhetoric, and a general air of strident alarm (e.g., a chapter titled The Diesel Shop of Horrors). For all his hand-wringing, however, he offers a telling account of the world of contemporary railroading, evoking both its romance and its potential terrors. Indisputably an important window into a little-discussed social abuse, fed here by gender and class volatility and contemporary blue-collar angst. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From American Library Association's Booklist: "Martin's highly personal, journal-like narrative tells his wrenching but ultimately self-affirming story." With Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998 broadened the legal definition of sexual discrimination to include same-sex sexual harassment. That decision was the impetus for the precedent-breaking settlement of Martin's case against the Norfolk Southern Railroad. In 1993 Martin was transferred to a new job as supervisor at a railroad service yard just outside Birmingham, Alabama. From the day he started, he was subjected to unfathomable and unrelenting harassment in the form of bullying, sexual innuendo, intimidation, and threats. Martin is not a homosexual, nor is it clear whether his aggressors even perceived him to be. Reports of the incidents to his own supervisors went unheeded, exacerbating his p[redicament. Martin sued, but he was told by the court that sexual discrimination laws did not apply. Martin won his suit on a technicality but the railroad dragged its feet on settling until the Oncale decision was announced. Martin's highly personal, journal-like narrative tells his wrenching but ultimately self-affirming story. Review by David Rouse, A.L.A. Booklist, December 15, 1999

From Midwest Book Reviews: "A powerfully-written first-person account of Eddie Martin's descent into a living nightmare of harassment and assault." Stopping The Train: The Landmark Victory Over Same-Sex Sexual Harassment in the Workplace is a powerfully written first-person account of Eddie Martin's descent into a living nightmare of harassment and assault when three attacker severely affected his ability to work, causing him such physical and psychological stress as to compel his withdraw from ordinary life. When numerous protests to railroad management fell on deaf ears, Eddie filed suite with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The day after the Supreme Court amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to included same-sex sexual harassment, Eddie received vindication in the tangible form of a settlement from his employer, Norfolk Southern. Stopping The Train also features a valuable appendix of resources for victims of sexual harassment in the workplace or elsewhere.

From the Birmingham, Alabama Post-Herald: "[Stoppping The Train] provides a chilling picture of how easily a workplace can become a prison. Leaving a job under cloudy circumstances can deprive a worker of the necessary references and connections to find new work. But to stay, in some situations, clearly can be even more dangerous to one's career and person." -- Elaine Witt, "When Jobs Become Hell: How The Law Tries To Make The Workplace Fair," June 10, 2000, pp. C1 & C4.

By Gordon Clay, Executive Director, Executive Director, The National Men's Resource Center (www.menstuff.org): "This first-person narrative, told with the help of the woman who married him and helped save his sanity, clearly illustrates the horrendous mental, emotional and physical toll caused by unwarranted same-sex sexual harassment. The author's life typified the Southern version of The American Dream. But when the men he worked with in a railroad maintenance shop subjected him to extreme sexual harassment, it turned his dream job into Hell on Earth.... This book explores such questions as: How does incessant sexual harassment affect a victim's personal and professional life? What kinds of physical and emotional therapy may help these victims recover from their trauma? This gripping and heart-wrenching book also examines the powerful story of love between Eddie and his wife Marcia, the woman who "stood by her man" throughout his nightmarish ordeal. The bizarre, Kafka-esque world of the night shift at a railroad maintenance shop ruled by a gang of sadistic sexual thugs. The emotional triumph as Eddie's cause and rights were vindicated by a jury of his peers." Chosen as Men's Book of the Week, January 31-February 6, 2000, by the The National Men's Resource Center.

"The book explodes the myth that sexual harassment is a male-to-female issue.... Martin does a good job of weaving the story of his job stress with the stress on his personal life.... Edwin Martin gives us the gift of his story. Let us learn from it so that we may avoid the hell that he had to endure. It is as close as you will ever want to come to sexual harassment!" Riley Harvill, Ph.D., sexual harassment expert and co-founder of The HarBeck Company, Inc., Dallas, TX

"This book provides a very insightful contribution to the sexual harassment literature. It should be of interest to mental health professionals who work with clients who have been the targets of sexually harassing behavior.... For professionals concerned with organizational behavior, this book should serve as a wake-up call that they should be concerned with men's experiences as well as women's experiences of sexual harassment." John B. Pryor, Ph. D., Professor of Psychology, Illinois State University

"The book is detailed and graphic enough to make the issue believable, but does not sensationalize or cheapen what martin endured. Martin has written an accessible book for the man who is experiencing this form of mistreatment, his partner, and his therapist. All would benefit from reading about Mr. Martin's ordeal." Mic Hunter, Ph. D., Director, National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization, in the NOMSV Newsletter, Fall 1999.

"A must-read for both men and women working in an environment where sexual harassment has been taking place. Readers obtain an intimate look into Martin's life before, during, and after his experience of sexual harassment. This book offers valuable information and support for an employee to read before filing a sexual harassment lawsuit." Gary Vikesland, M.A., L.P., C.E.A.P., Licensed Psychologist and Certified Employee Assistance Counselor

"I would encourage corporate America to read and digest the issues which Mr. Martin raises.... This book, then, is a warning and an education for human resources directors at all companies. Such a story of harm and betrayal at the hands of a man's employer may encourage others similarly situated to fight, but if the proper lessons are learned, Mr. Martin's narrative may do well to prevent such from happening!" James H. Stock, Jr., partner, Weintraub, Stock, Bennett, Grisham, and Underwood, Memphis, TN

"With Stopping the Train, Edwin B. Martin, Jr. takes us on a detailed tour of torment and anguish in a seemingly unlikely setting, a railroad yard occupied almost entirely by men.... Mr. Martin can expect to shatter a number of common stereotypes that still surround the issue of sexual harassment. What is more, Mr. Martin's firsthand account of this pervasive problem provides an emotional counterpoint to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent pronouncement that no employer-- no matter how masculine the work environment-- is immune from the threat of sexual harassment within its workplace." Michael J. Miller, Chairman and General Counsel, Supreme Compliance, Inc., Charlotte, NC

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Stopping The Train. ISBN: 1-929175-08-6. LC 99-65110. Trade hardcover, 184 pp. In print now and available for immediate delivery.

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