Reviews
Winner of the International Labor History Association Book of the Year Award Honorable Mention, C.L.R. James Award of the Working Class Studies Association "Well told and conceptualized... [A] provocative and useful book."-Joe R. Feagin, Monthly Review "A work of considerable scholarship, which convincingly documents the pervasiveness of racial and ethnic distinctions that plagued American society and shaped many workplace practices." --CHOICE "In this bold, captivating study, Roediger and Esch detail the U.S. history of racial management from the antebellum plantation to the building of the Panama Canal, and from the domestic household to Taylorist factory assembly lines. With historical depth and concise analyses, they demonstrate how racialized divisions of labor were as much the modern means for maximizing profit as they were the means to foster competition among different racial, national, and ethnic groups. In doing so, they provide the most compelling case for the necessity of cross-racial workers' solidarity." --Lisa Lowe, University of California, San Diego "Fascinating... highly readable... The book's wide scope gives it a bold and provocative edge, and should make it of interest to scholars in several fields." --Indiana Magazine of History "A remarkable and provocative book that breaks new ground in the study of racial and class formation in American history .. A powerful and timely contribution, The Production of Difference should provoke new debates on the role of management in the construction of race from the nineteenth century to today." --Chris Rhomberg, Journal of American History "This wide-ranging account of management-by-race-from southern slave plantations and the construction of the transcontinental railroads to Frederick Winslow Taylor's factories and the Philippines' Benguet Road-convincingly documents that discrimination (albeit sometimes mixed with race development theory) has long formed a central strand of American business practice." --Leon Fink, University of Illinois at Chicago "The Production of Difference is a masterful work that should revolutionize the research and teaching of U.S. management history. Breaking much new ground, Roediger and Esch's book vividly demonstrates that the management of U.S. labor originated not with Frederick Taylor and scientific management but instead with U.S. slavery's plantation system. Destined to become a classic, it is essential reading for every serious scholar, and should be assigned for all courses, in U.S. management history." --Victor G. Devinatz, Illinois State University "In these well-documented case studies David Roediger and Elizabeth Esch convincingly show how the rise of the United States from a semi-peripheral economy in the early nineteenth century to capitalism's hegemonic power in the twentieth century was attended by an increasingly sophisticated strategy of 'race management'-building on methods first tried out on slave plantations, and playing different segments of the working class off against each other. The book opens up a whole new field of research." --Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History "This book is a marvel of historical research. It puts new light on how slavery and westward expansion helped to embed racial thinking in 'labor management' and how racial thinking continued as a means to divide and rule and to maximize profits. The Production of Difference requires us to rethink root causes of the persistent perpetuation of racism in American life." --Michael Honey, author of Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign, "A work of considerable scholarship, which convincingly documents the pervasiveness of racial and ethnic distinctions that plagued American society and shaped many workplace practices." --CHOICE "In this bold, captivating study, Roediger and Esch detail the U.S. history of racial management from the antebellum plantation to the building of the Panama Canal, and from the domestic household to Taylorist factory assembly lines. With historical depth and concise analyses, they demonstrate how racialized divisions of labor were as much the modern means for maximizing profit as they were the means to foster competition among different racial, national, and ethnic groups. In doing so, they provide the most compelling case for the necessity of cross-racial workers' solidarity."--Lisa Lowe, University of California, San Diego "Fascinating... highly readable... The book's wide scope gives it a bold and provocative edge, and should make it of interest to scholars in several fields." --Indiana Magazine of History "A remarkable and provocative book that breaks new ground in the study of racial and class formation in American history .. A powerful and timely contribution, The Production of Difference should provoke new debates on the role of management in the construction of race from the nineteenth century to today."--Chris Rhomberg, Journal of American History "This wide-ranging account of management-by-race-from southern slave plantations and the construction of the transcontinental railroads to Frederick Winslow Taylor's factories and the Philippines' Benguet Road-convincingly documents that discrimination (albeit sometimes mixed with race development theory) has long formed a central strand of American business practice."--Leon Fink, University of Illinois at Chicago "The Production of Difference is a masterful work that should revolutionize the research and teaching of U.S. management history. Breaking much new ground, Roediger and Esch's book vividly demonstrates that the management of U.S. labor originated not with Frederick Taylor and scientific management but instead with U.S. slavery's plantation system. Destined to become a classic, it is essential reading for every serious scholar, and should be assigned for all courses, in U.S. management history."--Victor G. Devinatz, Illinois State University "In these well-documented case studies David Roediger and Elizabeth Esch convincingly show how the rise of the United States from a semi-peripheral economy in the early nineteenth century to capitalism's hegemonic power in the twentieth century was attended by an increasingly sophisticated strategy of 'race management'-building on methods first tried out on slave plantations, and playing different segments of the working class off against each other. The book opens up a whole new field of research."--Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History "This book is a marvel of historical research. It puts new light on how slavery and westward expansion helped to embed racial thinking in 'labor management' and how racial thinking continued as a means to divide and rule and to maximize profits. The Production of Difference requires us to rethink root causes of the persistent perpetuation of racism in American life." --Michael Honey, author of Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign, Winner of the International Labor History Association Book of the Year Award Honorable Mention, C.L.R. James Award of the Working Class Studies Association "Well told and conceptualized... [A] provocative and useful book." --Joe R. Feagin, Monthly Review "A work of considerable scholarship, which convincingly documents the pervasiveness of racial and ethnic distinctions that plagued American society and shaped many workplace practices." --CHOICE "In this bold, captivating study, Roediger and Esch detail the U.S. history of racial management from the antebellum plantation to the building of the Panama Canal, and from the domestic household to Taylorist factory assembly lines. With historical depth and concise analyses, they demonstrate how racialized divisions of labor were as much the modern means for maximizing profit as they were the means to foster competition among different racial, national, and ethnic groups. In doing so, they provide the most compelling case for the necessity of cross-racial workers' solidarity." --Lisa Lowe, University of California, San Diego "Fascinating... highly readable... The book's wide scope gives it a bold and provocative edge, and should make it of interest to scholars in several fields." --Indiana Magazine of History "A remarkable and provocative book that breaks new ground in the study of racial and class formation in American history .. A powerful and timely contribution, The Production of Difference should provoke new debates on the role of management in the construction of race from the nineteenth century to today." --Chris Rhomberg, Journal of American History "This wide-ranging account of management-by-race-from southern slave plantations and the construction of the transcontinental railroads to Frederick Winslow Taylor's factories and the Philippines' Benguet Road-convincingly documents that discrimination (albeit sometimes mixed with race development theory) has long formed a central strand of American business practice." --Leon Fink, University of Illinois at Chicago "The Production of Difference is a masterful work that should revolutionize the research and teaching of U.S. management history. Breaking much new ground, Roediger and Esch's book vividly demonstrates that the management of U.S. labor originated not with Frederick Taylor and scientific management but instead with U.S. slavery's plantation system. Destined to become a classic, it is essential reading for every serious scholar, and should be assigned for all courses, in U.S. management history." --Victor G. Devinatz, Illinois State University "In these well-documented case studies David Roediger and Elizabeth Esch convincingly show how the rise of the United States from a semi-peripheral economy in the early nineteenth century to capitalism's hegemonic power in the twentieth century was attended by an increasingly sophisticated strategy of 'race management'-building on methods first tried out on slave plantations, and playing different segments of the working class off against each other. The book opens up a whole new field of research." --Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History "This book is a marvel of historical research. It puts new light on how slavery and westward expansion helped to embed racial thinking in 'labor management' and how racial thinking continued as a means to divide and rule and to maximize profits. The Production of Difference requires us to rethink root causes of the persistent perpetuation of racism in American life." --Michael Honey, author of Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign
