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The article briefly reviews "Working People and Hard Times: Canadian Perspectives," edited by Robert Argue, Charlene Gannage, and D.W. Livingstone, "Social Movements/Social Change: The Politics and Practice of Organizing," edited by Frank Cunningham, Sue Findlay, Mar-lene Kadar, Alan Lennon, and Ed Silva, "Life Spaces: Gender, Household, Employment," edited by Caroline Andrew and Beth Moore Milroy, "Changing Patterns: Women in Canada," edited by Sandra Burt, Lorraine Code, and Lindsay Dorney, "Cape Breton Lives: A Book from Cape Breton's Magazine," edited by Ronald Caplan, "Feudal Society and Colonization: The Historiography of New France," by Roberta Hamilton, "Conspicuous Production: Automobiles and Elites in Detroit, 1899-1933," by Donald Finlay Davis, "In the Shadow of the Statue of Liberty: Immigrants, Workers, and Citizens in the American Republic, 1880-1920," edited by Marianne Debouzy, "The Jungle," by Upton Sinclair, introduction by James R. Barrett, "Sealskin and Shoddy: Working Women in American Labor Press Fiction, 1870-1920," edited by Ann Schofield, "Union Maids Not Wanted: Organizing Domestic Workers, 1870-1940," by Donna L. Van Raaphorst, "Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry: Interim Report" by the New York State Organized Crime Task Force, "A Revolutionary of the Heart: Essays on the Catholic Worker," edited by Patrick G. Coy, "Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars," edited by Margaret Randolph Higonnet, Jane Jensen, Sonya Michel, and Margaret Collins Weitz, "Women in the First Capitalist Society: Experiences in Seventeenth-Century England," by Margaret George, "Sectarian Violence: The Liverpool Experience, 1819-1914," by Frank Neal, "Childhood in Nineteenth-Century France: Work, Health and Education Among the Classes Populaires," by Colin Heywood, "Stalin's Industrial Revolution: Politics and Workers, 1928-1932," by Hiroaki Kuromiya, and "House and Street: The Domestic World of Servants and Masters in Nineteenth-Century Rio de Janeiro," by Sandra Lauderdale Graham.

The article reviews the book "Mechanic Accents: Dime Novels and Working-Class Culture in America," by Michael Denning.

Working Class Experience is a sweeping and sympathetic study of the development of the Canadian working class since 1800. Beginning with a substantial and provocative introduction that discusses the historiography of the Canadian working class, the book goes on to establish a general framework for analysis of what ultimately is a social history of Canada. Dividing the years into seven periods in the evolution of class struggle, it beings each chapter with an assessment of that period's prevailing economic and social context, followed by an examination of the many factors affecting the working class during that period. Written in a colourful and sometimes irreverent style, Working Class Experience focuses on the processes by which working people moved, and were moved, off the land and into the factories and other workplaces during the Industrial and post-Industrial Revolutions in Canada. Drawing on much recent work on contemporary capitalism, Working Class Experience offers a significant explanation of the malaise in current labour and management relations and speculates on its significance for progressive change in Canadian Life. --Publisher's description

The article briefly reviews "Not One of the Family: Foreign Domestic Worker," edited by Abigail B. Baikan and Daiva Stasiulis, "The Ethics of the New Economy: Restructuring and Beyond," edited by Leo Groarke, "Working: Images of Canadian Labour, 1900-2000 = Travailler: Images de la vie ouvrière au Canada, 1900-2000," by Laszlo Barna, "Working People: An Illustrated History of the Canadian Labour," 4th edition, by Desmond Morton, "Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women Are Worth," by Marilyn Waring, "Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour," by Maria Mies, "Rocking the Boat: Union Women's Voices, 1915-1975," by Brigid O'Farrell and Joyce L. Kornbluh, "Organized Labour and American Politics. 1894-1994: The Labor-Liberal Alliance," edited by Kevin Boyle, "The Pullman Strike and the Crisis of the 1890s: Essays on Labor and Politics," edited by Richard Schneirov, Shelton Stromquist, and Nick Salvatore, "Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century," 25th anniversary edition, by Harry Braverman, with a new introduction by John Bellamy Foster, "New Approaches to Disability in the Workplace," edited by Terry Thomason, John F. Burton, Jr., and Douglas E. Hyatt, "The State of Working America, 1998-99," edited by Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and John Schmitt, " Island Stories: Unravelling Britain, Theatres of Memory," v. 2, by Raphael Samuel, edited by Alison Light, with Sally Alexander and Gareth Stedman Jones, "Shaping History: Ordinary People in European Politics, 1500-1700," by Wayne Te Brake, and "The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA ," edited by Rachael Kamel and Anya Hoffman.

[E]xplores the human dimensions of plant relocation, sordid corporate practices, and ultimately, the corrosive cultural effects of corporate boosterism. A vivid, hard-hitting expose of big business in a small Ontario community. --Publisher's description

"Critical theory is no substitute for historical materialism; language is not life." With this statement, Bryan Palmer enters the debate that is now transforming and disrupting a number of academic disciplines, including political science, women’s studies, and history. Focusing on the ways in which literary or critical theory is being promoted within the field of social history, he argues forcefully that the current reliance on poststructuralism—with its reification of discourse and avoidance of the structures of oppression and struggles of resistance—obscures the origins, meanings, and consequences of historical events and processes. Palmer is concerned with the emergence of "language" as a central focus of intellectual work in the twentieth century. He locates the implosion of theory that moved structuralism in the direction of poststructuralism and deconstruction in what he calls the descent into discourse. Few historians who champion poststructuralist thought, according to Palmer, appreciate historical materialism’s capacity to address discourse meaningfully. Nor do many of the advocates of language within the field of social history have an adequate grounding in the theoretical making of the project they champion so ardently. Palmer roots his polemical challenge in an effort to "introduce historians more fully to the theoretical writing that many are alluding to and drawing from rather cavalierly." Acknowledging that critical theory can contribute to an understanding of some aspects of the past, Palmer nevertheless argues for the centrality of materialism to the project of history. In specific discussions of how critical theory is constructing histories of politics, class, and gender, he traces the development of the descent into discourse within social history, mapping the limitations of recent revisionist texts. Much of this writing, he contends, is undertheorized and represents a problematic retreat from prior histories that attempted to address such material forces as economic structures, political power, and class struggle. Descent into Discourse counters current intellectual fashion with an eloquent argument for the necessity to analyze and appreciate lived experience and the structures of subordination and power in any quest for historical meaning.--Publisher's description

Introduces "The Big Sleep" by Jack Timmerman (1915-1953), an unpublished, graphic account of the Malartic Mine Fire of 1947 that resuled in the deaths of 12 miners at the gold mine in northwestern Quebec. Provides a biography of Timmerman, who was working at the mine at the time, as well as framing the disaster in terms of the persistence and frequency of such events.

Bryan Palmer is succeeding Gregory Kealey, who is stepping down as editor after 21 years. Mark Leier is succeeding Palmer as the book review editor; Palmer had held the post for nearly 15 years. In turn, Andrew Parnaby and Richard Rennie are the new co-editors of the Notebook, succeeding Leier. Andrée Lévesque continues as the French book review editor. Various editorial board changes are noted. As incoming editor, Palmer offers a reflection on the journal and its path forward.

The article briefly reviews "A Differerent Kind of State? Popular Power and Democratic Administration," edited by Gregory Albo, David Langille. and Leo Panitch, "Belonging: The Meaning and Future of Canadian Citizenship," edited by William Kaplan, "Policing Canada's Century: A History of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police," by Greg Marquis, "Aberhart: Outpourings and Replies," edited by David R. Elliott, "The Voyages of Jacques Cartier," by Ramsay Cook, "Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth Century Montreal," by Louise Dechtne, "New England Planters in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, 1759-1800," compiled by Judith A. Norton, "Creed and Culture: The Place of English-Speaking Carholics in Canadian Society, 1750-1930," edited by Terrence Murphy and Gerald Stortz, "While the Women Only Wept: Loyalist Refugee Women in Eastern Ontario," by Janice Potter-MacKinnon, "Cultivation and Culture: Labor and the Shaping of Slave Life in the Americas," edited by Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan, "Farm to Factory: Women 's Letters, 1830-1860," edited by Thomas Dublin, "Gender and American History Since 1890," edited by Barbara Melosh, "Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Legacy," edited by Nelson Lichtenstein and Howell John Harris, "Race in America: The Struggle for Equality" edited by Herbert Hill and Jamcs E. Jones, Jr., "The Land and the Loom: Peasants and Profit in Northern France, 1680-1800," by Liana Vardi, "Harold Laski: A Political Biography," by Michael Newman, "Socialist Parties and the Question of Europe in the 1950s," edited by Richard T. Griffiths, "Keeping Heads Above Water: Salvadorean Refugees in Costa Rica," by Tanya Basok, "The Althusserian Legacy," edited by E. Ann Kaplan and Michael Sprinker, "Capitalism Versus Anti-Capitalism: The Triumph of Ricardian over Marxist Political Economy," by Paul Fabra, and "Labor Demand," by Daniel S. Hamemesh / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "Tramps, Workmates and Revolutionaries: Working-Class Stories of the 1920s," edited by H. Gustav Klaus / review by Gregory S. Kealey.

The article briefly reviews "The Formation of Labour Movements, 1870-1914: An International Perspective," edited by Marcel Van Der Linden,and Jurgen Rojahn, "Reluctant Icon: Gladstone, Bulgaria, and the Working Classes, 1856-1878," by Ann Pottinger Saab, "On the Move: Essays in Labour and Transport History Presented to Philip Bagwell," edited by Chris Wrigley and John Shepherd, "Regulating a New Economy: Public Policy and Economic Change in America, 1900-1933," by Morton Keller, "The Nature of Work: Sociological Perspectives," edited by Kai Erickson and Steven Peter Vallas, "Repression and Recovery: Modern American Poetry and the Politics of Cultural Memory, 1910-1945," by Cary Nelson, "The Arbitration of Rights Disputes in the Public Sector," by Clarence R. Deitsch and David A. Dills, "Women, Employment and the Family in the International Division of Labour," edited by Sharon Stichter and Jane L. Parpart, "History from South Africa: Alternative Visions and Practices," edited by Joshua Brown et al., "Arbitration Discharge: Grievances in Ontario : Outcomes and Reinstatement Experiences," by Peter J. Barnacle, "Labour Arbitration Yearbook, 1991, Volume 1," edited by William Kaplan, Jeffrey Sack, and Morley Gunderson, "Class War: A Decade of Disorder," edited by Ian Bone, Alan Pullen and Tim Scargill, "Taylorism Transformed: Scientific Management Theory Since 1945," Stephen P. Waring, and "Women Workers and Global Restructuring," edited by Kathryn Ward / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "Foreign Language Literature on the Nordic Labour Movements," edited by Marianne Bagge Hansen and Gerd Callesen / review by Gregory S. Kealey.

The article briefly reviews "Love A Solidarity: A Pictorial History of the NDP, by Cameron Smith, "Industrial Relations in Canadian Industry," edited by Richard P. Chaykowski and Anil Verma, "Reaction and Reform: The Politics of the Conservative Party under R. B. Bennett, 1927-1938," by Larry A. Glassford, "The Un-Canadians: True Stories of the Blacklist Era," by Len Scher, "History of Canadian Youth and Childhood: A Bibliography," by Neil Sutherland, Jean Barman and Linda L. Hale, "The Little Slaves of the Harp: Italian Child Street Musicians in Nineteenth-Century Paris, London, and New York," by John E. Zucchi, "In the Floating Army: F.C. Mills on Itinerant Life in California, 1914, by Gregory R. Woirol, "Visions of a New Industrial Order: Social Science and Labor Theory in America's Progressive Era," by Clarence E. Wunderlin, Jr., "The Lost World of the Craft Printer," by Maggie Holtzberg-Call, "The Trucker's World: Risk, Safety, and Mobility," by J. Peter Rothe, "Avoiding the Cracks: A Guide to the Workers ' Compensation System," by Anne Tramposh, "Feminism and the Women's Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology and Activism," by Barbara Ryan, "Ethnic Minorities and Industrial Change in Europe and North America," edited by Malcolm Cross, "English and French Towns in Feudal Society: A Comparative Approach," by R.H. Hilton, "The Education of Desire: Marxists and the Writing of History," by Harvey J. Kaye, "White, Male and Middle Class: Explorations in Feminism and History," by Catherine Hall, "William Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture," by Ian Dyck, "European Labour Politics from 1900 to the Depression," by Dick Geary, "Women of the Praia: Work and Lives in a Portuguese Coastal Community," by Sally Cole, "New Trends in Employment Practices: An International Survey," by Walter Galenson, "Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life: A South African Autobiography," by Emma Mashinini, "Status Influences in Third World Labor Markets: Caste, Gender, and Custom," edited by James G. Scoville, ,"Labor and Economic Growth in Five Asian Countries," by Walter Galenson / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "The Labor Process and Control of Labor: The Changing Nature of Work Relations in the Late Twentieth Century," edited by Berch Berberoglu, "Culture and the Labour Movement: Essays in New Zealand Labour History," edited by John E. Martin and Kerry Taylor / reviews by Gregory S. Kealey.

For the purposes of this review, labour studies is defined to encompass various disciplinary approaches, but, in general, this essay focuses on studies of the working class, not just of the labour movement, and material which places the working class in historical perspective. --From authors' introduction