Colliers Across The Sea: A Comparative Study Of Class Formation In Scotland And The American Midwest, 1830-1924 (working Class In American History)

This Masterful Study Charts Both The Common Ground And The Telling Differences In Development Between Two Widely Separated Coal Mining Communities: One In Lanarkshire, In The Clyde Valley Of Southwest Scotland, The Other In Northern Illinois, Which Became A Prime Destination For Lanarkshire Colliers Seeking A Better Life In The New World In The Years Following The Civil War. Challenging The Prevailing Exceptionalist Paradigm Of Labor History, Laslett Provides A Thorough Explanation Of The American And Scottish Miners' Divergent Approaches To Collectivist Solutions. He Traces The Progressive Heightening Of Militancy And The Rise Of Industrial Unionism On Both Sides Of The Atlantic As The Coal Mines Became Increasingly Mechanized And As The Interests Of Miners And Mine-owners Divided Along Class Lines. Drawing On A Profound Knowledge Of Both Communities, Laslett Demonstrates That, With The Exception Of Electoral Politics, The Process Of Class Formation In Lanarkshire And Northern Illinois Was Very Much The Same. Introduction: Exceptionalist Paradigm Or Comparative Social History? -- Pt. 1. Class Formation Among Colliers In Southwest Scotland, 1839-70. 1. Social Structure And Class In Early Scottish Mining Villages: Wishaw And Larkhall, 1830-70. 2. Conflict And Accommodation In Lanarkshire, 1830-64. 3. Crossing The Ocean: British Colliers Migrate To Northern Illinois, 1855-70 -- Pt. 2. Growth Of Class Hostilities In Scotland And The American Midwest, 1865-1905. 4. Heyday Of Pick Mining In The American Midwest: Braidwood And Streator, 1865-75. 5. Strikes, Internal Conflict, And The Decline Of The Class-harmony Ideal, 1872-82. 6. New Technology, New Immigrants, And Growing Class Conflict: Blantyre And Spring Valley, 1885-1905. John H.m. Laslett. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.