A great book is No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey[1]. She specifically goes over history, organizing tactics, analysis about why some unions succeed vs others that don't, as well as how to transition from a bad/no union to one that is representative. Each have examples of recent strikes and efforts in the last decade.

Here's a quote that jumped out at me.

> According to Buffkin's congressional testimony, it was the [Smithfield Foods'] intent to replace blacks with Latinos with two objectives in mind: to keep the workforce divided through both instigation of racial conflict and overt segregation, and to create an undocumented immigrant workforce that the employer believed they could more easily control.

> [Key to success was] first earning legitimacy with each major constituency in the plant, and then bridging the divisions between them, creating unity and solidarity despite the extraordinary efforts by the boss to systematically pit worker against worker.

[1]: https://janemcalevey.com/book/no-shortcuts-organizing-for-po...

I don’t think many people write light reading on the topic of unionization.

That said, you should be able to find plenty of modern material on class, law and labor.

If all else fails, read some classic sociology.

I'd really like a good book on the legal basis and evolution of unions in different countries. My sense is that there's a lot about US versus, say, Danish unions that works differently and Japanese unions are generally specific to a given company making them something else again.

There isn't anything really neutral to recommend. People are pretty adamant about "the right way". Start with ABCs of Socialism[0] and take a look at the texts they recommend. You'll have to come to your own conclusion about what you like and dislike about what it says.

The problem with this stuff is that the left is extremely sectarian so I might have someone jumping down my throat for recommending something published by Jacobin.

[0]:https://s3.jacobinmag.com/issues/jacobin-abcs.pdf

Communist manifesto?