20th Century American History - Economic Aspects - General & Miscellaneous, Economic Conditions in the United States, 19th Century American History - Social Aspects, 20th Century American History - Social Aspects - General & Miscellaneous, Social Classes

Working Americans, 1880-1999

Name: Working Americans, 1880-1999
Author: Scott Derks
ISBN: 9781891482816

by Scott Derks

Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

The introduction identifies this volume as the first in a multi-volume set; v.2 will cover the middle class, but after that, it's not clear what's planned. Volume 1 is a compendium focusing on the working class (which is nowhere defined). Each section deals with a decade and opens with a brief overview. Numerous reproductions of cartoons, advertisements, posters, and photographs of families, workers, and working conditions, as well as portions of magazine articles and quotations are interspersed with information about significant events of the decade and bits of social and economic information. Family profiles (74 in all) are fictional composites intended to represent the financial and social situations of families from an array of ethnic groups and occupations. The author's credentials are not identified, though he draws heavily on another of his works from the same publisher called . Inexplicably, the volume lacks an index, making it more of a "browse" than a useful reference. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Library Journal

A unique study of the American working class between 1880 and 1999, when the country was shifting from an agrarian to an industrial economy, this ingenious volume uses detailed economic and social data such as income, expenses, and home environment to create a remarkably nuanced portrait of working-class family life during this time. Proceeding decade by decade, economist Derks (who edited The Value of the Dollar) examines 72 families of many different occupations and ethnic groups. In addition to drawing on a wide range of sources e.g., newspaper and magazine articles, social workers histories, family diaries, and letters he provides evidence from the quantitative analyses of government surveys and economic data to create an appreciation of ordinary working-class Americans, showing us what people ate, read, listened to, and spent on everyday items such as hats or bread. The text is enhanced by news profiles, articles from local media, and illustrations of clippings from cereal boxes, postcards, posters, etc. A detailed table of contents and list of sources is included, but traditional footnotes are not. Overall, this volume engages and informs, contributing significantly and meaningfully to the historiography of the working class in America. It nicely complements Herbert G. Gutman s Power and Culture: Essays on the American Working Class (New Pr., 1992) and Jerome M. Clubb & others The Process of Historical Inquiry: Everyday Lives of Working Americans (Columbia Univ., 1989). A compelling and well-organized contribution for those interested in social history and the complexities of working Americans. [Future volumes in this set will cover the middle class and the upper class. Ed.] Edward G. McCormack, Univ. of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Lib., Long Beach Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.