Award Winning Books: Labor Studies and Work

AFSCME's Philadelphia Story

Municipal Workers and Urban Power in the Twentieth Century

Francis Ryan

Francis Ryan, recipient of the 2022 John C. Brennan Award for Labor Education from the Pennsylvania Labor History Society

A history of the largest union in the AFL-CIO and its growth in a major American city

320 pages | 6 x 9 | 2 figures, 30 halftones

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Between Women

Domestics and Their Employers

Judith Rollins

Jessie Bernard Book Award, American Sociological Association, 1987

A study of the unique relationship between women employers and employees

256 pages | 5.5 x 8.25

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The Cost of Being a Girl

Working Teens and the Origins of the Gender Wage Gap

Yasemin Besen-Cassino

Honorable Mention from the National Women's Studies Association for the Sara A. Whaley Book Prize, 2018

Traces the origins of the gender wage gap to part-time teenage work, which sets up a dynamic that persists into adulthood

208 pages | 6 x 9 | 11 tables, 8 line drawings

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Deregulating Desire

Flight Attendant Activism, Family Politics, and Workplace Justice

Ryan Patrick Murphy

The Organization of American Historians' David Montgomery Award for the best book on a topic in American labor and working-class history, 2017

How flight attendants have drawn on feminist and LGBTQ activist legacies to challenge big business's rise to power after 1970

252 pages | 6 x 9

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Job Queues, Gender Queues

Explaining Women's Inroads into Male Occupations

Barbara F. Reskin and Patricia A. Roos

Sex and Gender Section Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Study of Sex and Gender, American Sociological Association, 1995

A controversial interpretation of women's dramatic inroads into several male occupations

388 pages | 6 x 9

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Livestock/Deadstock

Working with Farm Animals from Birth to Slaughter

Rhoda Wilkie

British Sociological Association's Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for the Best First and Sole-Authored Book within the discipline of Sociology, 2011
Award for Distinguished Scholarship in the Animals and Society Section of the American Sociological Association, 2011

How humans think and feel about their work handling food animals

248 pages | 6 x 9 | 2 tables

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The Memoirs of Wendell W. Young III

A Life in Philadelphia Labor and Politics

Wendell W. Young III

Francis Ryan, recipient of the 2022 John C. Brennan Award for Labor Education from the Pennsylvania Labor History Society

A behind-the-scenes look at a legendary Philadelphia labor leader and how he shaped local and national politics in profound ways

296 pages | 6 x 9 | 28 halftones

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Out in the Union

A Labor History of Queer America

Miriam Frank

Outstanding Academic Title, Choice, 2015
Miriam Frank,recipient of the New York Labor History Association's John Commerford Labor Education Award, 2019

A groundbreaking history of queer activists who advanced the causes of labor organizing and LGBT rights

240 pages | 6 x 9

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Seeking Community in a Global City

Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Los Angeles

Nora Hamilton and Norma Stoltz Chinchilla

Best book published in the area of Race/Ethnicity and Foreign Policy/Globalization given by the section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics of the American Political Science Association, 2002

A look at the challenges faced by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles

304 pages | 6 x 9 | 12 tables, 2 figures, 22 halftones, 5 maps

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The Story of Reo Joe

Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A.

Lisa M. Fine

Selected for inclusion on the list of Michigan Notable Books, 2005
Cugnot Award of Distinction, 2005
Chosen by the Adult Non-fiction Committee of the Society of Midland Authors as the first runner-up, 2004-5

A collision of history and memory

256 pages | 6 x 9 | 7 tables, 17 halftones

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Striking Steel

Solidarity Remembered

Jack Metzgar

Winner of the Sidney Hillman Foundation Award, 2001

A middle-class son remembers his father's union and the steel strike of 1959

320 pages | 6 x 9 | 2 tables, 1 figure, 16 halftones

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The Temp Economy

From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America

Erin Hatton

Honorable Mention, Labor and Labor Movements Section of the American Sociological Association, 2012

How the temp industry undermined the idea that workers are a company's chief asset

232 pages | 5.5 x 8.25 | 2 tables, 7 halftones

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To Save China, To Save Ourselves

The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York

Renqiu Yu

Outstanding Academic Title, Choice, 1994
Philadelphia Book Clinic Certificate of Award, 1993
Outstanding Book in History Award, Association for Asian American Studies, 1993

Chinese laundry workers unite to fight racism and economic discrimination

253 pages | 6 x 9 | 8 figs.

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