Trade unions and community : the German working class in New York City, 1870-1900 /

Drawing on her command of both German and American sources, Schneider explores how New York City's German immigrants sought to overcome ethnic and cultural differences to form class-based organizations. She emphasizes the diversity of German experiences; they differed by generation, class, religion, and skill. Even the German-dominated trade unions--often short-lived organizations that flourished in the 1870s and 1880s--exhibit almost bewildering complexity. Looking at cigar makers, brewery workers, and bakers, Schneider demonstrates how craft traditions, ethnic composition, industrial organization, and production technology varied and how those variations influenced the nature of unionism. Some unions sought socialist solutions, others clung to craft traditionalism, while the cigar makers under the leadership of Samuel Gompers and Adolph Strasser paved the way for the "business" unionism of the American Federation of Labor. A major contribution to both labor and immigration history, Trade Unions and Community ought to be a model for further studies of the dynamic interplay between immigrant traditions and American institutions. Thoroughly researched and richly footnoted; extensive bibliography. General; upper-division undergraduate through faculty. D. Lindstrom; University of Wisconsin-Madison