Overview

The gold standard of American labor history references, updated to include the latest political, social, and economic developments of the 2020s Labor in America: A History, Tenth Edition, is a comprehensive and authoritative discussion of the U.S. labor movement from the colonial era to the 2020s. Authors Melvyn Dubofsky and Joseph A. McCartin have expanded and updated their landmark text, incorporating significant recent events and their implications for American labor. The book addresses the continuing and evolving challenges faced by American workers, critical developments in U.S. labor history, the impact of economic and political changes, and more. Dubofsky and McCartin offer nuanced analyses of workers’ collective actions, the formation of unions, and the role of labor in shaping American society. They provide a rich historical context and a detailed narrative of labor history for students, scholars, and laypersons alike. The authors also explain the likely impact of major contemporary trends on workers, including the rise of the gig economy, and discuss the most critical influences on modern U.S. labor. An invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history and future of labor in the United States, Labor in America: A History will undoubtedly remain the gold standard in the field for years to come.

Full Product Details

Author:   Melvyn Dubofsky (State University of New York at Binghamton, NY) ,  Joseph A. McCartin (Georgetown University, USA)
Publisher:   John Wiley & Sons Inc
Imprint:   Wiley-Blackwell
Edition:   10th edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.10cm , Length: 22.60cm
Weight:   0.544kg
ISBN:  

9781394208241

ISBN 10:   1394208243
Pages:   496
Publication Date:   23 September 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix Preface to the Tenth Edition xii Acknowledgments xiv List of Abbreviations xv 1 Laboring a Nation into Being 1 Varieties of Bound Labor 2 Patterns of Control, Resistance, and Accommodation 10 The Agency of an Embryonic Working Class 13 Workers, Revolution, and Nation Building 18 2 Labor in the New Republic, 1790 to 1830 22 The Intensification of Agricultural Slavery 23 Scraping By: Race, Gender, Ethnicity, and the Limits of Resistance 27 From Journeymen’s Organizations to Unions 36 3 The Protean Power of Organization, 1828 to 1840 45 Workingmen’s Parties and the Emergence of a Politics of Labor 47 Labor Organizing in the 1830s 55 A National Labor Movement 58 Employer Counterattack 61 The National Trades’ Union 63 The Decline of Unionism 66 4 Irrepressible Conflicts, 1840 to 1860 68 The Factory System and New Technologies 69 Immigration, Urbanization, and Divisions of Ethnicity and Race 73 Reformism and the Antebellum Working Class 76 Reawakening 10-hour Movement 80 Rebuilding Unions 82 The Coming of War 84 5 The Incomplete Triumph of Free Labor, 1861 to 1877 88 Wartime Conditions and Expanded Worker Organizing 89 Black Labor and Emancipation 92 The Limits of Reconstruction 94 National Labor Union 96 The Eight-Hour Movement, Cooperatives, and the Greenback-Labor Movement 103 Depression, Upheaval, and Fragmentation 107 6 The Great Upheaval, 1877 to 1887 111 Changing Economic and Social Context 115 The Origins and Rise of the Knights of Labor 118 The Knights of Labor at Flood Tide 126 The Decline of the Knights 130 Denouement: Haymarket, Richmond, and the Thibodaux Massacre 132 7 The Rise of the American Federation of Labor, 1886 to 1896 137 The Appeal of Trade Unionism: From Washerwomen to Skilled Craftsmen 137 Origins of the New Unionism 140 Samuel Gompers and the Founding of the American Federation of Labor 142 Autonomy, Skill, Race, and Gender: AFL Principles and Policies 146 The Homestead Strike, Depression, and the Limits of AFL Unionism 150 Eugene V. Debs and the Pullman Strike 155 Trade Unionism in Turbulent Times 160 8 Labor at the Dawn of the Progressive Era, 1896 to 1908 163 The Failure of Populism and the Birth of the Socialist Party 164 Progressive Era Experiments with Labor–Capital Cooperation 169 Labor’s Limited Breakthrough: The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 172 Labor, Law, and Increasing Employer Resistance 177 AFL Political Action and a Nascent Labor–Democratic Alliance 181 9 Winds of Change, 1908 to 1916 184 Stirrings of Reform 184 Emergence of the New Unionism 186 The Radical Unionism of the Industrial Workers of the World 190 The Spirit of the IWW 193 The IWW’s Challenge to the AFL 196 Labor Upheaval, Federal Action, and a Budding Political Alliance 201 10 War, Reform, and Reaction, 1914 to 1922 205 Repression of the IWW and the Socialist Party 206 Toward Industrial Democracy 209 African Americans, Women, and Mexican Immigrants 211 Peace in Europe, Class Conflict at Home 214 The Last Throes of Postwar Labor Militancy 220 The Open Shop American Plan and Labor’s Deferred Dreams 223 11 The 1920s 227 Welfare Capitalism 230 The Failure of Insurgent Politics, 1922 to 1924 234 The AFL after Gompers 236 Crisis and Glimmers of Change: Miners, Clothing Workers, and Pullman Porters 238 Depression and the Demoralization of Organized Labor 241 12 The New Deal and the Rebirth of Labor Militancy 245 Section 7(a) and the Revival of Organizing 246 The Wagner Act and the Second New Deal 253 The Emergence of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) 260 Labor and Roosevelt’s Reelection 268 13 The CIO and the New Deal Order 271 The Little Steel Strike, the Roosevelt Recession, and the Resurgence of the AFL 278 The Consolidation of the CIO and a More Inclusive Union Membership 281 A Final New Deal Victory: The Fair Labor Standards Act 286 Labor and the Emerging New Deal Political Order 288 Encroaching War and the 1940 Election 291 14 World War II 295 Workers, Unions, and Wartime Labor Policy 298 The NWLB and Labor Politics 308 Race, Gender, and the Changing Union Movement 312 Demobilization and the Postwar Strike Wave 314 A New Industrial Relations System 319 15 Workers and Unions in the Postwar Era 321 Anticommunism, the Politics of 1948, and the Purge of the Labor Left 325 The Politics of Collective Action in the Emergent New Deal Order 328 The Heyday of Collective Bargaining 331 A United Labor Movement 333 The Travails of a Sleepy Monopoly 338 16 Labor’s Long Sixties, 1960 to 1973 344 Confronting Automation, Alienation, and Structural Inequalities 348 Labor, Civil Rights, and the Great Society 351 Public Employees, Farmworkers, and a Diversifying Union Movement 353 War and Division 357 The Challenges of Solidarity 359 17 The Great Reversal, 1974 to 1990s 363 Economic Crisis and Its Aftermath 363 Restructuring the Labor Force 365 The Rise of Conservative Politics and Neoliberal Policy 369 The Reagan Revolution 375 The Post-Reagan Political Economy and Labor Policy 380 The Crisis of Unionism 384 18 Renewal and Setback, 1990s to 2009 388 The Impetus for Change 389 A Change of Direction for Labor 394 From Setbacks to Schism 398 Fissuring, Financialization, and the Great Recession 403 The Obama Moment 408 19 Resiliency and Disruption, 2009 to 2020 411 The Impact of the Great Recession 412 A Renewed Assault on Unions and Collective Bargaining 415 Obama’s Mixed Legacy for Workers 418 Labor’s Green Shoots 422 Workers, Unions, and the 2016 Presidential Election 428 The Trump Years 430 Labor and the 2020 Election 433 20 Making the Road by Walking: Labor in the 2020s 435 Further Reading 446 Index 449

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Author Information

Melvyn Dubofsky is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History & Sociology at Binghamton University, SUNY, USA. He has published extensively on labor history and has been a key figure in the field since the 1960s. Joseph A. McCartin is a Professor of History and Executive Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor & the Working Poor at Georgetown University. He has authored and edited numerous books on U.S. labor history and is a prominent voice in contemporary labor studies.

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