Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe

Booknews

This in-depth analysis of the Minnesota experience--where pay equity has proceeded farther than any other place in the nation--focuses on what actually happened in implementing the most important and controversial wage policy since minimum wage and on the political, organizational, and personal consequences of using technocratic methods to change wage policy. Wage labor existed as far back as pre-Roman times, but its roots as a dominant economic system are shown in this study to be found in the urban economies of medieval Europe--a challenge to the conventional view that a feudal or domestic mode of production predominated. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

From the Publisher

As a much-needed synthesis, [the book] will serve students well.

Speculum

A thoughtful and wide-ranging contribution to the social and economic history of the High Medieval urban milieu.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Interesting and comprehensive. . . . A major accomplishment.

Journal of Economic History

A feast of themes in medieval social history.

David Herlihy, Brown University