
A David Montgomery Reader
Essays on Capitalism and Worker Resistance
David W. Montgomery(Author)
University of Illinois Press
Published on 31. July 2024
Book
Hardback
464 pages
978-0-252-04590-5 (ISBN)
Description
A foundational figure in modern labor history, David Montgomery both redefined and reoriented the field. This collection of Montgomery's most important published and unpublished articles and essays draws from the historian's entire five-decade career.
Taken together, the writings trace the development of Montgomery's distinct voice and approach while providing a crucial window into an era that changed the ways scholars and the public understood working people's place in American history. Three overarching themes and methods emerge from these essays: that class provided a rich reservoir of ideas and strategies for workers to build movements aimed at claiming their democratic rights; that capital endured with the power to manage the contours of economic life and the capacities of the state but that workers repeatedly and creatively mounted challenges to the terms of life and work dictated by capital; and that Montgomery's method grounded his gritty empiricism and the conceptual richness of his analysis in the intimate social relations of production and of community, neighborhood, and family life.
Taken together, the writings trace the development of Montgomery's distinct voice and approach while providing a crucial window into an era that changed the ways scholars and the public understood working people's place in American history. Three overarching themes and methods emerge from these essays: that class provided a rich reservoir of ideas and strategies for workers to build movements aimed at claiming their democratic rights; that capital endured with the power to manage the contours of economic life and the capacities of the state but that workers repeatedly and creatively mounted challenges to the terms of life and work dictated by capital; and that Montgomery's method grounded his gritty empiricism and the conceptual richness of his analysis in the intimate social relations of production and of community, neighborhood, and family life.
Reviews / Votes
"In this invaluable sample of nearly forty years of working-class social history, A David Montgomery Readerreminds us of the special gifts--the confidence of purpose, analytical range, and sheer breadth of knowledge--regularly exhibited by this master craftsman at work."--Leon Fink, Undoing the Liberal World Order: Progressive Ideals and Political Realities Since World War IIMore details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
15 black & white photographs
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-252-04590-5 (9780252045905)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
David Montgomery (1927-2011) was the Farnam Professor of History at Yale University. His books include The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925. Shelton Stromquist is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Iowa. He is the author of Claiming the City: A Global History of Workers' Fight for Municipal Socialism. James R. Barrett is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out: Ethnicity, Race, and Identity in Working-Class History.
Content
Acknowledgments
Biographical Sketch
Introduction
Part I. Writing the People's History
The Great Northern Strike of 1894: When Gene Debs Beat Jim Hill
Part II. Working-Class Formation
The Working Classes of the Pre-Industrial American City, 1780-1830
Social Attitudes of American Workers in the 1840s
The Shuttle and the Cross: Weavers and Artisans in the Kensington Riots of 1844
Wage Labor, Bondage, and Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century America
Part III. Mutualism and Contention: Strikes, Immigrants, and Working-Class Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century
Strikes in Nineteenth-Century America
Labor and the Republic in Industrial America, 1860-1920
Racism, Immigrants, and Political Reform
Part IV. Toward a History of Workers' Control
Trade Union Practice and the Origins of Syndicalist Theory in the United States
Workers' Control of Machine Production in the Nineteenth Century
The "New Unionism" and the Transformation of Workers' Consciousness in America, 1909-22
Part V. After The Fall
Thinking about American Workers in the 1920s
Labor and the Political Leadership of New Deal America
Working People's Response to Past Depressions
Part VI. The Move to Global and Comparative Study
Empire, Race, and Working-Class Mobilizations
Workers' Movements in the United States Confront Imperialism: The Progressive Era Experience
Part VII. Political Interventions
What's Happening to the American Worker?
Foreword to On Strike for Respect
Yesterday's Wisdom: Changing Situations and New Initiatives in the American Labor Movement
Challenges Facing Historians of the Working Class
A David Montgomery Bibliography
Index
Biographical Sketch
Introduction
Part I. Writing the People's History
The Great Northern Strike of 1894: When Gene Debs Beat Jim Hill
Part II. Working-Class Formation
The Working Classes of the Pre-Industrial American City, 1780-1830
Social Attitudes of American Workers in the 1840s
The Shuttle and the Cross: Weavers and Artisans in the Kensington Riots of 1844
Wage Labor, Bondage, and Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century America
Part III. Mutualism and Contention: Strikes, Immigrants, and Working-Class Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century
Strikes in Nineteenth-Century America
Labor and the Republic in Industrial America, 1860-1920
Racism, Immigrants, and Political Reform
Part IV. Toward a History of Workers' Control
Trade Union Practice and the Origins of Syndicalist Theory in the United States
Workers' Control of Machine Production in the Nineteenth Century
The "New Unionism" and the Transformation of Workers' Consciousness in America, 1909-22
Part V. After The Fall
Thinking about American Workers in the 1920s
Labor and the Political Leadership of New Deal America
Working People's Response to Past Depressions
Part VI. The Move to Global and Comparative Study
Empire, Race, and Working-Class Mobilizations
Workers' Movements in the United States Confront Imperialism: The Progressive Era Experience
Part VII. Political Interventions
What's Happening to the American Worker?
Foreword to On Strike for Respect
Yesterday's Wisdom: Changing Situations and New Initiatives in the American Labor Movement
Challenges Facing Historians of the Working Class
A David Montgomery Bibliography
Index