The Industrial Worker, 1840-1860 - by Norman Ware (Paperback)

About the Book

The response of American workers to the advance of the Industrial Revolution, showing how labor suffered severe losses and sought to hold on to its economic status.

Book Synopsis

Besides the slavery issue, one of the major notes of American life in the years preceding the Civil War was created by the Industrial Revolution. It produced remarkable social and industrial upheavals which were repugnant to an astonishingly large numbers of Americans. Despite national prosperity, industrial workers suffered severe losses of economic status and independence; in protests grounded in religion and politics, they sought to hold on to what they had, and later to win material gains. Mr. Ware's illuminating book analyzes the conditions which brought on the Industrial Revolution, and traces and interprets the labor struggles that developed in response to the factory system.

Review Quotes

"Ware writes with vigor and with refreshing freedom from traditional viewpoints.... He raises real problems and throws light upon them." --New Republic

About the Author

As a teacher and writer, Norman Ware enjoyed a distinguished career in economics and social science, and wrote several books on American labor. Thomas Dublin is Professor of History at the State University of New York at Binghamton and the author of Women at Work and Farm to Factory.