Andrew Herod, Labor Geographies: Workers and the Landscapes of Capitalism. New York: Guilford Press, 2001. xvi + 340 pp. $25.00 paper.

Abstract

The question “Is there a new labor studies?” dominated the discussion of a workshop on the subject of teaching the labor movement held at New School University in November 2000. Common observations about the dominance of economic paradigms, corporate influence in the academy, and the rise of area studies were addressed, and emphasis was laid on the flowering of local, identity-inspired histories, a trend that has become somewhat controversial in the larger field of labor studies. Some who are involved in concrete union organizing and nuts-and-bolts industrial relations have seen such an emphasis on place-specific cultural history as suggestive of a defeatist attitude, hallmark of a post-union society and world. In this context it was apropos of John Russo (Center for Working Class Studies, Youngstown State University) to mention the importance of recent work being done by several geographers who have paid much attention to the importance of place-specific labor activities which in shaping local landscapes have had far-reaching effects.