| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.4

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Capital, Labor, and State: The Battle for American Labor Markets from the Civil War to the New Deal. By David Brian Robertson. (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. xxii, 297 pp. Cloth, $65.00, ISBN 0-8476-9728-2. Paper, $22.95, ISBN 0-8476-9729-0.)

This historical survey asks why American employers, unlike their European counterparts, managed to retain effective control over their labor markets. David Brian Robertson, a political scientist, argues that America's labor market experience was not always exceptional. The turning point came at the beginning of the twentieth century when the American Federation of Labor (AFL) adopted an aggressive "union shop" policy. That decision prompted an equally aggressive employer "open shop" response that, by the 1920s, had resulted in employer dominance of labor markets. The book emphasizes the crucial role of both the competitive federal system and antitrust legislation in that outcome. Robertson downplays, although he does not ignore, the conservative role of the judiciary. The basic decisions of both the AFL and the employers are seen as eminently rational given the circumstances both faced. The outcome of the struggle was not foreordained: a combination of historical circumstance, including aggressive leadership, and political institutions favored the employers. . . .

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