LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History

Be sure to check out Anders Bright's "Poverty's Capital: Labor Coercion and the Origins of the New York Bank for Savings" in our most recent issue!

📢 CALL FOR PAPERS: «The Courage of Being Young»: Transnational Communism and Youth (1917-1991)

Márgenes III. International Congress of Young Researchers in Contemporary History. Logroño, 8-10 July 2026

We invite PhD candidates/no before 2020. Details bit.ly/3O6QKM9
Submit by Feb 15 bit.ly/4bBf1Uw

Up first is the Arts & Media essay "The Cost of Compliance" by @rachaelvm454.bsky.social which analyzes Apple TV+’s Severance as a critique of how corporate culture strip workers of autonomy and identity while masking exploitation behind the language of purpose and growth. doi.org/10.1215/1547...

Labor

We hope everyone had a good holiday season and the new year has been treating you well. If one of your new year's resolutions was to read and engage with more commentary and historical essays pertaining to labor - you are in luck! Our latest issue (22:4) is out now! dukeupress.edu/labor

Going Public: LABOR’s Newest Section | LAWCHA I am thrilled to announce a new collaboration between LaborOnline and LABOR: Studies in Working Class History called Going Public. As a new section of

Emily LB Twarog introduces Going Public, a new series appearing in LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History that will explore the intersection between labor history and public history and the role of scholar activists.
lawcha.org/2026/01/05/g...

Going Public: LABOR’s Newest Section | LAWCHA I am thrilled to announce a new collaboration between LaborOnline and LABOR: Studies in Working Class History called Going Public. As a new section of

Going Public embraces the notion of bravery and collectivity. We want to examine how scholars are engaging w the public.
What are you doing as a scholar-activist?
How can we present our research, teaching, and ideas in creative ways?
@lawcha.bsky.social @laborlawchajournal.bsky.social

Enjoy these great articles, share them with your loved ones, and we’ll see you soon in the (hopefully better) new year. Cheers!

And finally, "Class/War: Do Labor and Military History Work Together?" (vol. 22, no. 3) by @justinfdjackson.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1215/1547...

Followed by "Relitigating the New Deal: The Stakes of Current Constitutional Challenges to the NLRB" (vol. 22, no. 1) by Diana S. Reddy

doi.org/10.1215/1547...

Next is"Gotta Study War Work More" (vol. 22, no. 3) by @tejnagaraja.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1215/1547...

Then "Mike Davis: The Road to City of Quartz and Beyond" (vol. 22, no. 2) by @nelsonlichtenstein.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1215/1547...

Starting off with "Illinois Teachers and the Fight for Labor Rights: A Path Beyond the Liberal Order, 1966–1984" (vol. 22, no. 2) by Joseph Rathke

doi.org/10.1215/1547...

To wrap up the year, here are LABOR’s Most Read Articles of 2025! @dukepress.bsky.social is making these articles free for all to read from now until January 31, 2026.

Naomi R Williams on their new book, A Blueprint for Worker Solidarity | LAWCHA Ian Rocksborough-Smith interviewed Naomi R Williams about their recent book, A Blueprint for Worker Solidarity: Class Politics and Community in Wisconsin,

Visit LaborOnline to catch Ian Rocksborough-Smith's interview with Naomi R Williams on their recent book, 'A Blueprint for Worker Solidarity: Class Politics and Community in Wisconsin.'
lawcha.org/2025/12/10/n...

Yiddish Actors Give a Whole New Meaning to the Phrase, “Staging a Strike” | LAWCHA One of the earliest foundations of the progressive theatre movement in America was contributed by the Yiddish Theatre, 1887–1913, in the formation of the

Joel Eis explores the world of Progressive Era theater and the militancy of Yiddish actors in his new article for LaborOnline.
lawcha.org/2025/12/05/y...

John Laslett: A Scholarly Remembrance | LAWCHA Labor historian John Laslett died on March 23rd, 2025 at the age of 91. He will be remembered for his scholarly engagement with the history of radicalism,

Michael Laslett, David Brundage, and Tobias Higbie pay tribute to the work of the late historian John Laslett.
lawcha.org/2025/12/12/j...

Labor History and Military History: A Forum | LAWCHA This recorded forum is an exciting follow-up to Justin Jackson's blog, The Specter of War in Labor History on the Labor: Studies in Working Class History

Here's video/audio of our panel discussion — on the links between labor & military concerns.

w/ Rosemary Feurer, Justin F. Jackson, Reena Goldthree, John W. Hall, Tejasvi Nagaraja

This accompanies our published forum in the journal Labor.

Check it out!

lawcha.org/2025/11/22/l...

Up For Debate: Labor and Military History YouTube video by Labor and Working-Class History Association

@smh-historians.bsky.social: can labor and military history work together?

I discuss below with John Hall, Reena Goldthree, @tejnagaraja.bsky.social, revisiting our debate in the most recent issue of @laborlawchajournal.bsky.social (no paywall until February!):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC-V...

Refusing Settler Domesticity: Native Women’s Labor and Resistance in the Bay Area Outing Program Caitlin Keliiaa’s Refusing Settler Domesticity not only provides a necessary additive to the historiography of Indian boarding schools but also offers a unique approach to the longer history of Indige...

REFUSING SETTLER DOMESTICITY "offers a unique approach to the longer history of Indigenous labor exploitation in California," writes Mary Klann for LABOR, praising the book's "vivacious, complex, and sometimes heartbreaking stories" of Bay Area outing participants. @laborlawchajournal.bsky.social

Black and white photo of a woman factory worker pouring liquid into a large industrial vat on the cover of Labor Studies in Working Class History

As a site for both historical research and commentary, Labor: Studies in Working-Class History hopes to provide an intellectual scaffolding for understanding the roots of continuing social dilemmas. Issue 22:4 is now available. View the TOC: buff.ly/ZW0Ee2A
@laborlawchajournal.bsky.social

Steve Early’s review of Oil Cities: The Making of North Louisiana’s Boomtowns, 1901-1930 (@utexaspress.bsky.social) by Henry Alexander Wiencek.

Fernando Teixeira da Silva’s review of A Third Path: Corporatism in Brazil & Portugal (@princetonupress.bsky.social) by Melissa Teixeira

Erin Shearer’s ( @erinshearer.bsky.social ) review of Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women’s Lethal Resistance ( @cambridge.org ) by Nikki M. Taylor

Jon Shelton’s review of Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education: A Labor History ( @illinoispress.bsky.social ) by Eric Fure-Slocum and Claire Goldstene, eds.

Vilja Hulden’s review of ​​Labor under Siege: Big Bob McEllrath and the ILWU’s Fight for Organized Labor in an Anti-Union Era ( @uwapress.uw.edu ) by Harvey Schwartz and Ronald E. Magden

Steven High’s ( @stevenhigh.bsky.social ) review of You Had a Job For Life: Story of a Company Town (@uchicagopress.bsky.social) by Jamie Sayen

Timothy J. Minchin’s review of Beyond Norma Rae: How Puerto Rican and Southern White Women Fought for a Place in the American Working Class ( @uncpress.bsky.social ) by Aimee Loiselle ( @aimloiselle.bsky.social )

Neville Kirk’s review of ​​Working-Class Raj: Colonialism and the Making of Class in British India ( @cambridge.org ) by Alexandra Lindgren-Gibson

Margot Minardi’s review of Emancipation: The Abolition and Aftermath of American Slavery and Russian Serfdom (@yalepress.bsky.social ) by Peter Kolchin

Daniel Clark’s review of ​​In Levittown’s Shadow: Poverty in America’s Wealthiest Postwar Suburb (@uchicagopress.bsky.social ) by Tim Keogh