Labor in American Literature for Labor Day

Labor Day is an American federal holiday observed the first Monday in September. It was originally organized to celebrate the creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to and pays tribute to the social and economic achievements of American workers. In modern times however, it is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of summer and is largely a day of rest. What better way to relax than to just read about labor in American literature. Consider the following titles:

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
A documentary novel portraying industry's conditions at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Sinclair's novel prompted public outrage which led President Theodore Roosevelt to demand an official investigation. This eventually led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws.

Sister Karrie by Theodore Dreiser
Young Carrie Meeber leaves home for the first time and experiences work, love, and the pleasures and responsibilities of independence in late-nineteenth-century Chicago and New York.

Working by Studs Terkel
Men and women representing a variety of occupations, describe the daily routine of their jobs and express their grievances, aims, and dreams.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
In an attempt to understand the lives of Americans earning near-minimum wages, Ehrenreich works as a waitress in Florida, a cleaning woman in Maine, and a sales clerk in Minnesota.

Triangle by Katharine Weber
The last living survivor of a 1911 sweatshop fire, 106-year-old Esther Gottesfeld passes away leaving numerous questions about the fire, which is investigated by her granddaughter Rebecca and a feminist historian with a personal agenda.

Dreamland  by Kevin Baker
Follows a young Eastern European stowaway from his 1909 arrival in New York City, through his rise to power in a Manhattan underworld organization, to the birth of the labor union movement.

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
The remaining employees at an office affected by a business downturn spend their time enjoying secret romances, elaborate pranks, and frequent coffee breaks, while trying to make sense of their only remaining "work," a mysterious pro-bono ad campaign.

Oil! by Upton Sinclair
The life of Bunny Ross, son of an oil magnate, reveals practices of those who have become wealthy from their oil wells during the Teapot Dome scandal.

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Emigrating with her mother from Hong Kong to Brooklyn, Kimberly Chang begins a secret double life as an exceptional schoolgirl during the day and sweatshop worker at night, an existence also marked by her first crush and the pressure to save her family from poverty.