Published in 2020, The Cold Millions is a historical novel by American author Jess Walter. The book is Walter’s seventh novel and is set in his hometown of Spokane, Washington. Walter conducted extensive research on the historical Spokane free speech riots of 1909 and 1910, representing several real-life figures in his novel including union organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Spokane Acting Police Chief John Sullivan. After the novel’s publication, it was named one of the best books of 2020 by Bloomberg, the New York Times Book Review, and Publishers Weekly. It also won the 2021 Washington State Book Award for Fiction. The Cold Millions tells the story of Rye and Gig Dolan, two working-class brothers who find themselves embroiled in a growing dispute between the Spokane police and the Industrial Workers of the World labor union, which comes to a head between 1909 and 1910. It examines the wealth gap and its impact on a personal level, creates a complex portrayal of unionism through its criticisms and challenges, and depicts the transformative power of solidarity.

This study guide refers to the first edition paperback of the novel, published by HarperCollins in 2020.

Content Warning: This novel includes numerous uses of derogatory language against unhoused people, as well as depictions of police violence, alcohol use disorder, and the abuse and exploitation of people who are incarcerated.

Plot Summary

In 1909, brothers Rye and Gig Dolan live in Spokane, Washington. While escaping a mob assault on unhoused people, they make the acquaintance of a man named Early Reston, who attacks the mob leader pursuing them. Gig, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) labor union, invites Early to join an upcoming free speech protest they are organizing. Reston declines when he realizes that the mob leader he attacked may have been a police officer.

Though Rye disapproves of unions, he is protective of Gig and is anxious about what might happen to him at the protest. Against Gig’s wishes, Rye attends the protest, which soon escalates into a riot. Rye participates in the protest and is arrested alongside Gig.

Rye is placed in a small jail cell with many other prisoners. A police officer named Hub Clegg pressures Gig, Rye, and their Salish friend Jules to identify the person who attacked the mob leader. Since they refuse, the police employ violent tactics to intimidate them and break their spirits. Jules dies of pneumonia, which he develops after Clegg assaults him. Rye is arraigned and released on a clerical error while Gig remains imprisoned on conspiracy charges.

Rye is introduced to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a young IWW organizer who invites him to escort her on a speaking tour around the Pacific Northwest. She intends to raise funds to organize a second protest, as well as to hire prominent union lawyer Clarence Darrow to represent the IWW prisoners. Before Rye leaves Spokane, he also meets Lemuel Brand, a mining baron who wants to hire Rye to spy on Gurley. For $20, Rye gives him Early’s name when prompted to name the man who attacked the mob.

Rye and Gurley travel to Seattle, where their first speaking engagement proves successful. They also reunite with Early Reston, who agrees to join them on their tour. Rye comes to admire Gurley for her solidarity, and she expresses her fondness for his company. When Rye returns to his hotel room, he finds that Brand has sent a detective named Del Dalveaux to acquire information from him. Dalveaux is also secretly working as Brand’s assassin. His targets are Rye, Gurley, Gig, and Reston.

Rye, Gurley, and Reston proceed to Montana, where their efforts are less successful. Gurley decides to make an unplanned stop at a large work camp called Taft, where the workers rob them of their donations. Before the workers kill them, Gurley uses her rhetoric to stun their assailants and make an escape. Against her husband’s wishes, Gurley returns to Spokane with Reston and Rye, hoping to recover their lost funds and continue her efforts.

Reston reveals that he had also been hired by Brand to escalate the dispute between the union and the police. Dalveaux realizes that Brand had hired him to kill Reston since Reston had gone too far in his efforts. Reston then kills Dalveaux. Meanwhile, Rye learns that Gig may soon be convicted of conspiracy, causing him to lose faith in the possibility of his brother’s release. Brand summons Rye to pay Reston off with money he owes him, and Gurley is arrested in a police raid on the IWW Hall.

Gurley learns of the mistreatment of female prisoners in the corrupt Spokane prison. She is released on bail and placed under house arrest, censored from making public statements or publishing articles in Spokane in the meantime. Rye finds work as a machine shop stock boy, and Gig is released from prison with Brand’s help. His spirit broken, the now-cynical Gig abruptly leaves Rye. Gig succumbs to his alcohol use disorder before sobering up at the hotel of his romantic interest, an actor under the stage name Ursula the Great. Rye confesses his arrangement with Brand to Gurley, and Gurley tasks him with traveling to Seattle to publish an article about her prison experiences. This renews public support for Gurley.

Rye is approached by Early Reston, who asks him to request more money from Brand. Unbeknownst to Rye, Early is planning to assassinate Brand with a bomb that Rye will inadvertently deliver. Early hires the wayward Gig as a getaway driver for their crew. On the day of Gurley’s verdict reading, Rye waits for Reston outside the courthouse. When Gig sees Rye, he foils Early’s plan by driving them away from the courthouse and sending their car off a cliff. Gig is killed in the ensuing explosion, but his and Early’s bodies are never recovered.

Gurley is acquitted of conspiracy charges. However, in the years to come, the IWW ultimately criminalized and removed from Spokane. Rye starts a family with Jules’s granddaughter and grows old. Gurley continues to fight for the oppressed, becoming American Communist Party chairperson before her death in 1964. Brand, meanwhile, becomes paranoid that Early survived the explosion and will one day return to kill him. The novel ends with Rye redistributing the money Brand had intended to pass along to Reston, donating the remainder of the money to the Salvation Army.