Lara Vapnek is a professor of history at St. John's University. She is the author of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Modern American Revolutionary.

"Reads almost like a prequel to When Everything Changed, a history of American women since 1960 by Gail Collins."--The New York Times "A quite nuanced discussion of the impact of gender on the forging of class identities from the Gilded Age into the Progressive Era. . . . Highly Recommended"--Choice"Illuminates the strong connections between labor rights and political rights and enhances our understanding of the promises and the perils of cross-class organizing."--Journal of American History

• Acknowledgments   ixList of Abbreviations   xi Introduction   1Chapter 1. The Daily Labor of Our Own Hands   11Chapter 2. Working Girls and White Slaves   34Chapter 3. Gender, Class, and Consumption   66Chapter 4. Solving the Servant Problem   102Chapter 5. Democracy Is Only an Aspiration   129 Notes   165Index   209 Illustrations follow page 10

Lara Vapnek is a professor of history at St. John's University. She is the author of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Modern American Revolutionary.

"Reads almost like a prequel to When Everything Changed, a history of American women since 1960 by Gail Collins."--The New York Times "A quite nuanced discussion of the impact of gender on the forging of class identities from the Gilded Age into the Progressive Era. . . . Highly Recommended"--Choice"Illuminates the strong connections between labor rights and political rights and enhances our understanding of the promises and the perils of cross-class organizing."--Journal of American History

• Acknowledgments   ixList of Abbreviations   xi Introduction   1Chapter 1. The Daily Labor of Our Own Hands   11Chapter 2. Working Girls and White Slaves   34Chapter 3. Gender, Class, and Consumption   66Chapter 4. Solving the Servant Problem   102Chapter 5. Democracy Is Only an Aspiration   129 Notes   165Index   209 Illustrations follow page 10