The first all-primary source reader in labour history published in nearly 100 years. This book presents excerpts from 54 primary sources to blend labour history's traditional focus on the growth of a union movement with windows into all aspects of workers' lives -- their workplaces, unions, home lives and culture -- the engaging sections mirroring the great diversity of the American workforce from their colonial era to the present. Arranged into 4 parts, each of which begins with an original overview of the corresponding period in American history, this unique compilation of edited documents -- each of which is preceded by a contextual introduction -- offers students the opportunity to explore for themselves how specific events as well as general trends in American labourers, slaves, servants, mill hands, prostitutes, assembly-line workers, office temps, fast-food employees, or union leaders. While its organisation and diverse range make it an excellent companion to the publisher's popular 'Labor in America' this book can also stand alone or serve as an engaging supplement for any course in labour or US history.

Author Biography

Jonathan Rees earned his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at Whitman College, Southwest Missouri State University and is currently Associate professor of History at Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is the author of Managing the Mills: Labor Policy in the American Steel Industry During the Nonunion Era. Jonathan Z. S. Pollack received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at the University of Wisconsin and is currently instructor of History at Madison Area Technical College. A specialist in the history of white-collar workers, his Prosperity and Transience: Madison's Jewish Community. 1850-2000, is forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press.