History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out: Ethnicity, Race, and Identity in Working-Class History

James R. Barrett

book: History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out

Open Access Published by Duke University Press 2017

History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out

Ethnicity, Race, and Identity in Working-Class History

James R. Barrett

Overview

About this book

James R. Barrett rethinks the boundaries of American working-class history by investigating the ways in which working-class people's personal lives intersected with their activism and religious, racial, ethnic, and class identities.

Author / Editor information

James R. Barrett is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author and editor of several books, most recently, The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multiethnic City.

David Roediger is Foundation Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas and the author of Seizing Freedom: Slave Emancipation and Liberty for All.

Reviews

"James R. Barrett’s History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out defies categorization. It is not singularly a memoir, nor a historiographical examination, nor a book about new approaches to history; it is an amalgam of all three. . . . . Barrett in this book not only synthesizes samples of his previous work, but offers a manifesto of sorts to young scholars for how labor history could be made of flesh and blood."

-- Robert Cassanello American Historical Review

"History from the Bottom Up presents a lesson in reflexivity and the process of historical study. . . . This book should be read by all scholars who want to learn more about the process of historical thinking. It is accessible and thought-provoking, arguing persuasively for a closer examination of our own motivations in researching history, as well as a declaration in favour of making the political personal."

-- Sophie Cooper Immigrants & Minorities

"History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out is an exemplary life's work."

-- Christopher Phelps Labour History Review

"Here’s how to read James Barrett’s marvellous new collection of essays. Begin with his opening call for American labour historians to pay more attention to the inner worlds of working people . . . so as to give their lives the complexity they deserve. Then flip to the final essay and make your way, one by one, back to the first, following Barrett’s distinguished career as he closes in on the standard he has set for the field."

-- Kevin Boyle Social History

"Barrett makes a persuasive case for the utility and beauty of an inside-out approach to labour and working-class history. . . . With its unique, even refreshing mix of the personal and the political—both in content and form—I can see History from the Bottom Up & Inside Out featuring on graduate reading lists for years to come."

-- Kathryn Olivarius Canadian Journal of History

“Barrett’s collection of essays is a wonderful book, a model for effective historical method. Students of history, whether practicing scholars or graduate students, will learn much from Barrett’s rigorous approach.”

-- Thomas Castillo Labor

Topics

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 303

eBook

Planned Publication: August 4, 2017
ISBN: 9781478093190