American Work: Four Centuries of Black and White Labor

By Jacqueline A. Jones

Book Overview

This is history at its best--the epic, often tragic story of success and failure on the uneven playing fields of American labor, rooted in painstaking research and passionately alive to its present-day implications for a just society. Jacqueline Jones shows unmistakably how nearly every significant social transformation in American history (from bound to free labor, from farm work to factory work, from a blue-collar to a white-collar economy) rolled back the hard-won advances of those African Americans who had managed to gain footholds in various jobs and industries. This is a story not of simple ideological racism but of politics and economics interacting to determine what kind of work was suitable for which groups. Here is a useful and sobering (Kirkus Reviews) account of why the connection between success and the work ethic was severed long ago for a substantial number of Americans. American Work goes far beyond the easy sloganeering of the current debates on affirmative action and welfare versus workfare to inform those debates with rich historical context and compelling insight.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393318338
• ISBN13: 9780393318333
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 548 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A brilliant look at racial division of labor in America

BEST BOOK ever written, in my experienced opinion. All people craving info. on racial divisions(and aren't we all?) should pick up this classic text. It ingeniously describes the evolution of the working classes in America. And who said work was BORING? Not this kind. This would make the perfect gift for your grandmother, but more importantly, for yourself. A riveting journey into the soul, not to be missed by any history buff. American Work is true to its name, it was written by an American, cause shes gotta work.