Description
Book SynopsisPresents a comprehensive exploration of the American working class from the colonial period.
Trade ReviewThis book is a gem accessible to all readers, presenting a diverse array of personalities and histories, with solid writing by accomplished scholars and a fine introduction and essay by Eric Arnesen. -- Michael Honey, University of Washington
Eric Arnesen has assembled a wonderful set of biographical stories, both of famous leaders and unknown activists. All are remarkable portraits from labor's past, evoking a world of passion and drama that contemporary readers will find amazingly instructive. -- Eileen Boris and Nelson Lichtenstein, co-editors of Major Problems in the History of American Labor
These short, engaging biographies capture the multitudinous forms labor has taken over the course of American history, in the tasks performed, the social arrangements of work, and the identity of the workers. While a few well-known figures are profiled, mostly we see the history of labor through long-forgotten midwives, seamstresses, slaves, craftsmen, and agitators. This collection would make a fine addition to any course on the history of American labor, or for that matter, of the United States. -- Joshua B. Freeman, City University of New York
Eric Arnesen has compiled a splendid collection of labor biographies. [This book] sheds new light on labor activists both famous and obscure. This important collection belongs on every labor historian's bookshelf. -- Thomas J. Sugrue, David Boies Professor of History and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Mary Hale and Ann Edmonds: Gender, Women's Work, and Health in Colonial Massachusetts Chapter 3 Gabriel's Conspiracy: The Lives of Enslaved Artisans in Richmond, Virginia Chapter 4 Sarah Bagley: Laboring for Life Chapter 5 Beeswax Taylor: The Forgotten Legacy of Labor Insurgency in Gilded Age America Chapter 6 William R. Riley: Limits of Interracial Unionism in the Late-Nineteenth-Century South Chapter 7 Eugene V. Debs: From Conservative Unionist to American Socialist Chapter 8 Pauline Newman: Immigration, Jewish Radicalism, and Gender Chapter 9 Karl Yoneda: Radical Organizing and Asian American Labor Chapter 10 James Evans: Religion and Working-Class Protest in the New South Chapter 11 A. Philip Randolph: Labor and the New Black Politics Chapter 12 Vernon Lawhorn, Thomas James Buchner, and the Green Brothers: Reverse Migration in World War II Chapter 13 Dolores Huerta: The United Farm Workers Union Chapter 14 Walter Reuther: The Promise of Modern America Chapter 15 Index
