John Shovlin argues in “The Cultural Politics of Luxury in Eighteenth-Century France” that reconsideration of the relationship between the economic developments of eighteenth-century France and the French revolution must be undertaken. Cultural history and economic dynamics must be re-weighed into the factors contributing to the French Revolution. His argument hinges on the cultural problems created by “luxury” and “representation,” which helped to undermine the Old Regime. Attitudes toward both luxury and representation changed rapidly due to increasing economic activity, especially among the non-nobility. Prior to the mid-eighteenth century, luxury in France was used to distinguish between the nobility and everyone...

Jeanne Boydston’s book Home and Work: Housework, Wages, and the Ideology of Labor in the Early Republic (Amazon) discusses the lives of New England women from the colonial period to post-modernization. Attitudes toward women’s labor in the home saw several distinct shifts within this period, which it is Boydston’s primary objective to reveal. Within the introduction, Boydston claims her work “is a history of women’s unpaid domestic labor as a central force in the emergence of an industrialized society in the northeastern United States.” Throughout much of the period, the attitude toward women’s labor revolved around the Marxian principle that unpaid...

Mary Ryan’s Cradle of the Middle Class (Amazon) shows the familial metamorphosis that occurred in Oneida County as growth and industrialization affected the area and cultural emphasis in the region began to transfer to Utica. In the seven articles observed, Mary Ryan’s book was generally well reviewed. Several authors, however, expressed certain reservations, which will be discussed shortly. Regarding general comments about the book, Catherine Hall, who has proved to be the most unquestioning admirer, stated that Ryan’s most important contribution to the field was that “She has taken feminist perspectives firmly back into the study of the whole society…. It...

In Faces of Nationalism, Tom Nairn has compiled a series of essays, which he wrote over an eighteen-year period. As a compilation, Faces of Nationalism does not possess a single, overarching argument but rather a common thread of nationalism, which runs throughout the well-orchestrated work. Nairn effectively separates the fifteen essays, not including the introduction on which much of this paper will dwell, into four thematically divided groups. Ernest Gellner receives a great deal of attention in this work, especially in the introducation, for the foundation that he laid in the field. At times the illustration from and references to...

Christopher Clark’s The Roots of Rural Capitalism: Western Massachusetts, 1780-1860 (Amazon) argues for the creation of a capitalistic society in New England during the period between the War for American Independence and the Civil War. Although not unique, Massachusetts displayed distinct characteristics, which would allow it to play a significant role in the economic development of the country throughout the period. Clark’s divides his book into five chronologically-developed sections. The first is the introduction in which he lays out his groundwork and general premise. The second section, entitled “Involution: 1780 to the 1820s,” shows the intensification of production in Massachusetts and...

Jeffrey Haydu’s work Making American Industry Safe for Democracy (Amazon) is effectively two comparative studies spliced into one book. The first part focuses on comparisons among the labor industries after World War One in the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. Part Two explores differences in industry within America itself. Ken Fones-Wolf of the University of West Virginia described the book as “outstanding.” Part One of the book looks closely at American “exceptionalisms”; however, the term is never clearly defined and is used also in reference to British industries. Haydu uses open shop reforms, collective bargaining agreements, and the relationship between...

In her book Ready-to-Wear and Ready-to-Work (Amazon), Nancy Green compares the fashion and garment manufacture industries in Paris and New York. She finds many similarities between the locations. Green’s work seems to have two theme: dealing with the myth of “the Jewish tailor and the nimble-thimbled woman,” and the struggle between standardization and flexibility. Green attempts to dispel rumors and stereotypes that workers in garment factories are exclusively female and primarily immigrant. While she recognizes the dominance of this group and sub-group, Green discounts the notion that gender has played a significant role in the industry. She also sets out to...

Peter Kolchin’s Unfree Labor (Amazon) compares the systems of American slavery and Russian serfdom. Kolchin’s argument is compelling and has been widely accepted and regarded among his fellow historians. Kolchin recognizes that at the time of the adoption of the labor systems of slavery and serfdom, both the United States and Russia were experiencing periods of agricultural growth. Kolchin works from the premise that a key ingredient to the development and continued existence of forced labor is low population density in a region, although the theory has been contested. While this circumstance existed in both Russia and the United States, there...

Carl Degler’s Neither Black Nor White (Amazon) is a comparative study of race relations in the United States in Brazil. A number of historical reviews have declared this as a markedly important work in the field of comparative race studies. Neither Black Nor White is both enlightening and effective. Degler takes into account a great many aspects of society within the two nations, including politics, religion, art, literature, architecture, science, and others. Brazil and the United States are similar in that black populations in both countries were enslaved for the better part of the two countries histories. However, the enslavements took...

What I initially liked about George Fredrickson’s The Comparative Imagination (Amazon) is that his opening chapter defined as best he could comparative history, allowing the reader to have a framework from which to interpret the author’s work. I also appreciated that Fredrickson acknowledges that history, specifically comparative, associates itself with and fuels a relationship between itself and the other social and behavioral sciences. Some historians attempt to isolate themselves, thus closing off sources of information that could have been insightful. Fredrickson’s work offered the first in depth work, that we have observed in this class, in actual comparative studies. Many of...