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Jan Lucassen, ed., Global Labour History: A State of the Art.

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Jan Lucassen, ed., Global Labour History: A State of the Art (Bern: Peter Lang 2006)

THE NOTORIOUS debates of the early 1990s about "the end of history" had their echo in the field of labour history, where a number of international journals published discussions under titles such as "The End of Labour History?" and "What Now for Labour History?" One sequel to that moment was a conference of labour historians from around the world sponsored by the International Institute of Social History in November 2000, which some years later has produced a substantial anthology on "global labour history." These pages include expressions of concern, even some cries of alarm, but on the whole they convey more a sense of measure than malaise, possibly a sign that the sense of crisis has abated as the challenges facing labour history in the new century are identified.

There is a good sense of proportion in the two introductory essays, which emphasize the widening geographic and conceptual scope of labour history over time as well as the attendant practical and theoretical questions arising from this extension beyond some of the more conventional paradigms of North...

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