In this, the first broad overview of labor in the United States in twenty years, Philip Nicholson examines anew the questions, the villains, the heroes, and the issues of work in America. In language that is clear and unpretentious, Labor's Story in the United States looks at American labor from the perspective of institutions and people: the rise of unions, the struggles over slavery, wages, and child labor, public and private responses to union organizing; all of these events and more are covered with a focus on the integral relationship between the strength of labor and the growth of democracy. Unlike recent books that have covered labor in the last century, Nicholson looks at the broad landscape of labor since before the revolution, never losing sight of the divides of class, race, and gender. Through it all, he paints a vivid picture of the strength of labor movements and how they helped make the United States what it is today. Labor's Story in the United States will find its place on the shelves of scholars and students as an Indispensable read on the twin growth of labor and American democracy.