In this fascinating portrait of Jewish immigrant wage earners, Susan A. Glenn weaves together several strands of social history to show the emergence of an ethnic version of what early twentieth-century Americans called the "New Womanhood." She maintains that during an era when Americans perceived women as temporary workers interested ultimately in marriage and motherhood, these young Jewish women turned the garment industry upside down with a wave of militant strikes and shop-floor activism and helped build the two major clothing workers' unions.
"Contains rich descriptions of cultural, family, and work life, including generational, ethnic, and union conflicts, based on nuanced readings of primary sources, especially surveys and oral histories. It is an important contribution to the literature in labor, immigrant, and women's history because it presents the lives of this historically important group of immigrant workers from the perspective of their ethnic and religious identities."—Industrial and Labor Relations Review
- Publisher's Weekly
During the early 20th century, young women left small Jewish towns in Poland and Russia for metropolitan America and found that their work and sex roles changed dramatically. This study shows how they influenced the garment industry with militant strikes, shop-floor activism and pro-union behavior. Photos. (Oct.)