History of the Labor Movement in the United States, Vol. 1: From Colonial Times to the Foundation of the American Federation of Labor

History of the Labor Movement in the United States #1

by Philip S. Foner

Traces the history of labor unions and the labor movement from America's colonial era, through the Industrial Revolution, to the present

Genres: History, American History, Labor, Nonfiction, Politics

578 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Philip Sheldon Foner was an American labor historian and teacher. Foner was a prolific author and editor of more than 100 books.

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part one of a ten part project by Philip Foner. This book serves as a corrective to Coffee's history of labor in America and tells another narrative about working people. Foner was of course a famous Marxist professor, though as far as I could tell it did not color his work in a way that makes it untrustworthy.

The primary complaint I have is that Foner's prose is pedestrian (I almost said "workman-like" but it's too bad of a pun). The book is full of facts and figures, but it has a droning academic quality that is off-putting. Foner's work is nonetheless required for those that are interested in the history of the labor movement