Description
Book SynopsisA nuanced assessment of citizenship and labor in the Progressive Era
Trade Review"This is an important work, one of the most important recent books, not only in labor history, but in social theory. Filled with insights and surprising twists, it repays a careful reading and rereading. It is a model study; I have added it to my graduate reading lists and urge everyone to do the same."--
Labor History"Recommended."--Choice
"Currarino's book will enable readers to understand the transformations that took place during the Gilded Age, not only in the minds of workers but in American society as a whole. Altogether, the book is an impressive accomplishment."--
Business History Review "This splendidly researched cultural and intellectual history of the 'labor question' during the Gilded Age offers a masterful explanation of the move from a producerist to a consumerist understanding of citizenship and labor.
The Labor Question in America will be widely read by students and scholars of the labor movement, the development of twentieth-century liberalism, and the history of the Gilded Age."--Lawrence M. Lipin, author of
Workers and the Wild: Conservation, Consumerism, and Labor in Oregon, 1910-30"Rosanne Currarino has provided a nuanced, deeply informed reading of the complex intellectual and cultural currents that shaped the labor question in the late nineteenth century. This is quite simply a marvelously informative book."--
The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era"More a cultural history of the debates over the role of labor in American life than a history of labor activities themselves. This book packs a surprisingly large volume of historical content and sophisticated argument into a slim volume."--
History Teacher "This book is a valuable contribution to the history of the Gilded Age, as it provides scholars of the period with a concise intellectual history to better position studies of workers themselves."--Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas
"A compelling case that economic democracy requires the full participation of the American working class in the economic life of the nation as both workers
and consumers."--
H-Net Reviews "Currarino has identified a vital shift in the debate over the meaning of democracy in a nation where such a large portion of its citizens were dependent upon others for their livelihoods."--
American Historical Review
