Foster Rhea Dulles

Melvyn Dubofsky

Even since the last edition of this milestone text was released, union membership in the private sector of the economy has fallen to levels not seen since the 19th century; the forces of economic liberalism (neo-liberalism), capital mobility, and globalisation have affected measurably the material standard of living enjoyed by US workers; and mass immigration from the southern hemisphere and Asia has continued to restructure the domestic labour force -- all of which has been exacerbated by national security policy formed in the shadow of the tragic events of 9/11. Yet even in the face of anti-union legislation and a continuing decline in the number of organised workers, the purpose of this latest book edition -- the powerful and appealing story of the American worker from the colonial workshop to the modern mass-assembly line -- remains the same as that of the 1st edition written more than 50years ago: to enlighten present and future generations of students about the history of work, workers and worker movements in the US, and to encourage them to learn and think about those who built America and those who will shape its future.

A History

Labor in America

A History of the Industrial Workers of the World

We Shall be All

Even since the last edition of this milestone text was released six years ago, unions have continued to shed members; union membership in the private sector of the economy has fallen to levels not seen since the nineteenth century; the forces of economic liberalization (neo-liberalism), capital mobility, and globalization have affected measurably the material standard of living enjoyed by workers in the United States; and mass immigration from the Southern Hemisphere and Asia has continued to restructure the domestic labor force. Yet even in the face of anti-union legislation, a continuing decline in the number of organized workers, and the fear of stateless, if not faceless terrorism—the shadow of “911” in which we still live, in preparing this new edition of his classic text Professor Dubofsky has hewn to the lines laid out in the previous seven in seeking to encourage today’s students of labor history to learn about those who built the United States and who will shape its future. In addition to taking the narrative right up to the present, a recent history that includes the election of 2008 as well as the tumultuous blow suffered by the U.S. and world economy in 2008-09, this eighth edition features an entirely new (fourth) bank of photographs and, in light of the avalanche of new scholarly work over the last decade, a complete overhauling of the book’s extensive and critical Further Readings section in order to note the very best works from the profuse recent scholarship that explores the history of working people in all its diversity.

Joseph A. McCartin

This book, designed to give a survey history of American labor from colonial times to the present, is uniquely well suited to speak to the concerns of today’s teachers and students. As issues of growing inequality, stagnating incomes, declining unionization, and exacerbated job insecurity have increasingly come to define working life over the last 20 years, a new generation of students and teachers is beginning to seek to understand labor and its place and ponder seriously its future in American life. Like its predecessors, this ninth edition of our classic survey of American labor is designed to introduce readers to the subject in an engaging, accessible way.

Warren Van Tine

Warren R. Van Tine

Here are the life stories of the men and women who have led the labor movement in America from Reconstruction to recent times, from William H. Sylvis, the first major labor leader, to Cesar Chavez, who organized California's farm workers in the 1960s. All of the chapters have been written expressly for this volume by leading authorities, several of whom are authors of booklength biographies of their subjects. Taken together these readable yet authoritative life studies provide a broad overview of the American labor movement that will appeal to the student and lay reader as well as to the specialist in social history and labor and industrial relations.

Labor Leaders in America

American Labor Since the New Deal

A biography of a leading member of the American labor movement traces Lewis' life from his boyhood, through his school years, to his involvement with the cause of labor

A Biography

John L. Lewis

This welcome collection encapsulates the evolving thought of one of American labor history's most prominent scholars. Melvyn Dubofsky's accessible style and historical reach mark his work as required reading for students and scholars alike. Hard Work juxtaposes Dubofsky's early and recent writings, forcefully suggesting how present and past interact in the writing of history. In addition to solid essays on various aspects of labor history, including western working-class radicalism, U.S. labor history in transnational and comparative settings, and the impact of technological change on the American worker movements, this volume provides an invaluable "I was there" perspective on the academic and political climate of the 1960s and early 1970s and on the development of labor history as a discipline over the past four decades. An exploration of some of American labor's central themes by a giant in the field, Hard Work is also a compelling narrative of how one scholar was drawn to labor history as a subject of study and how his approach to it changed over time.'

Melvyn Dubofsky

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