American Working Class Literature

A collection containing over 300 pieces of literature by, about, and in the interests of the working class in America. Organized in an historical fashion, with texts are grouped around key historical and cultural developments in working-class life, this volume records the literature of the working classes from the early laborers of the 1600. American Working-Class Literature is an edited collection containing over 300 pieces of literature by, about, and in the interests of the working class in America. Organized in a broadly historical fashion, with texts and grouped around key historical and cultural developments in working-class life, this volume records the literature of the working classes from the early laborers of the 1600 up until the present. Though diverse genres including fiction, poetry, letter, and song, this unique volume demonstrates the diverse voices of America's working-class population but also their potential solidarity across the many differences of identity and location. Introductions for each of the seven sections and brief essays preceding each selection provide information about the author's life and writing, and accounts of the contexts - historical, artistic, political - in which that text was produced.