Cover; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; List of Abbreviations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1 Workers; Chapter 2 Race; Chapter 3 Elections and the Constitution; Chapter 4 The Courts; Chapter 5 Repression; Chapter 6 Liberalism; Chapter 7 Religion; Chapter 8 Socialism; Conclusion; Appendix: Notes and Sources for the Tables; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Summary
Why is the United States the only advanced capitalist country with no labor party? This question is one of the great enduring puzzles of American political development, and it lies at the heart of a fundamental debate about the nature of American society. Tackling this debate head-on, Robin Archer puts forward a new explanation for why there is no American labor party--an explanation that suggests that much of the conventional wisdom about "American exceptionalism" is untenable. Conventional explanations rely on comparison with Europe. Archer challenges these explanations by comparing the Unit
