The Declaration proclaimed all men created equal, yet the new nation’s economy depended on enslaved labor in the South and indentured servitude in the North. This contradiction would shape American ...

“In postwar America, fast food was seen as a ladder to the middle class,” says journalist and author Adam Chandler. “If you were part of a familiar chain, banks were willing to lend you money, and ...

Even as the pandemic continues to alter our work and education patterns, Labor Day still serves as marker of the transition from one season to the next. It began as a day of celebration of the ...

In Make Your Own Job, Erik Baker shows just how long Americans have scrambled to pile work on top of work—and at what cost. What is a “work ethic”? In its most common usage, the phrase connotes a ...

Though the term “strike” was coined in 1768, the history of work stoppages is much older and artists have been involved from the start. The “Turin Strike Papyrus” (1187–1157 BCE), cyperus fiber, ink, ...

In Make Your Own Job, Erik Baker shows just how long Americans have scrambled to pile work on top of work—and at what cost. A woman moves to comfort a coworker who is slumped over her desk in despair, ...