Working Class Experience: Rethinking the History of Canadian Labour, 1800-1991. Rev. ed.

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This is a substantially revised and updated edition of Working Class
Experience: The Rise and Reconstitution of Canadian Labour, 1800–1980
(1983). Both the dramatic, newsmaking events (strikes, rebellions) and
the mundane details of nearly two centuries of drudgery, which together
constitute the history of labor in Canada, are found in this
comprehensive review.

Palmer explores such topics as paternalism; immigration; the early
apprenticeship conventions; Canada’s industrialization; the role of
women and children in the work force; unionism and strikes; workers’
ethical standards; major political influences on labor; regionalism;
labor legislation; and mass culture. The social setting and
working-class culture of the 19th century receive considerable emphasis,
and it is this that earns the work a place in any scholarly history or
labor collection.

Unfortunately, only those with a desperate need for the information in
this book will plod through its dreary prose. The fact that the author
is an academic is both a strength and a weakness. The research is
meticulous, the bibliography a work of art; the style, however, is
simply boring.

Although this book’s content has the potential to make fascinating
reading, its style, layout (masses of solid type, absence of
illustrations), and uninspired presentation assure it a place on
dusty—academic—shelves.