“In this impressive synthesis of the literature of the field, Storch has deftly accessed both standards within the New Labor History and cutting-edge material, offering at once an excellent text to undergraduate students surveying the field and an invaluable narrative to graduate students and scholars reaching for a source to understand current thinking. Her writing is crisp and clear, and she balances chronology and themes masterfully.”
–Daniel Katz, Dean of Labor Studies and Professor of History, National Labor College
“The text not only proceeds at a nice pace but is infused with a dynamism and sense of importance that students will certainly appreciate. Storch’s ability to cover so many topics and maintain a sense of momentum is admirable.”
–Kathleen Mapes, Associate Professor of History, SUNY Geneseo
From the Inside Flap
Working Hard for the American Dream presents an in-depth examination of the various economic, social, and political developments that shaped labor history in the United States from World War I until the present day. By taking a working-class perspective, the text vividly illustrates the ways average workers experienced the U.S. economy’s changing nature, the relationship of the government to workers, and how global economic and political forces affected—and were affected by—working Americans. We are shown how evolving economic developments and the changing composition of the nation’s working class affected working-class agency and protest, ideologies, and organization. Workers’ struggle to exert power in the modern workplace is also examined, along with how and why workplace activism has changed over time among a broad range of industrial, agricultural, public, and service workers. Incorporating the most recent scholarship in labor history, Working Hard for the American Dream offers illuminating insights into 20th-century union history in the United States.
From the Back Cover
Working Hard for the American Dream presents an in-depth examination of the various economic, social, and political developments that shaped labor history in the United States from World War I until the present day. By taking a working-class perspective, the text vividly illustrates the ways average workers experienced the U.S. economy’s changing nature, the relationship of the government to workers, and how global economic and political forces affected―and were affected by―working Americans. We are shown how evolving economic developments and the changing composition of the nation’s working class affected working-class agency and protest, ideologies, and organization. Workers’ struggle to exert power in the modern workplace is also examined, along with how and why workplace activism has changed over time among a broad range of industrial, agricultural, public, and service workers. Incorporating the most recent scholarship in labor history, Working Hard for the American Dream offers illuminating insights into 20th-century union history in the United States.
About the Author
Randi Storch is Professor of History at the State University of New York, College at Cortland. She is author of Red Chicago: American Communism at Its Grassroots, 1928-1935 (2007).
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