Reviews for Children Bound to Labor: The Pauper Apprentice System in Early America

The average rating for Children Bound to Labor: The Pauper Apprentice System in Early America based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-06-10 00:00:00 Joseph Kroepil I'm a high school US History teacher who read this for a graduate level class on US Empire studies. In this book, Williams argues that the US has throughout its history always viewed itself as an empire and in the process of making a larger empire, although it didn't admit that openly. He begins in the colonial era, where our view of empire was directed at dominating Native Americans and African slaves, then proceeds through the early 1800s where the US had it's first outward attempts at Imperialism. His chapter on the US Civil War is sort of the odd man out, where he describes imperialism as being the North over the South... although he doesn't fully prove his point there. The narrative continues in the late 1800s, WWI era and beyond, where his argument is a bit more obvious. Generally speaking, I enjoyed this book. But then, I also took his arguments with a grain of salt and realized that his argument shouldn't be taken as gospel. He plays fast and loose with some facts, conveniently ignores or reworks things that run counter to his argument (ex. the isolationist movement in the US post-WWI), and uses quotes from obscure and unrelated people to prove his point (ex. an Australian sheep farmer). If you use or view this source as one side of a greater debate, it has a lot of merit. You should not, however, take this as THE text on US imperial history (as my professor wanted us to do).

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-31 00:00:00 Judith A Booth Williams' final work predates and presages Zinn by several years. Like the latter's A People's History, he reduces American history to its rawest elements: imperialism and expansionism as drives for economic and social control over increasingly abstracted spheres (first, western land; later, international capitalist markets). As a scholarly work of history, this is not the Williams you want; his earlier work is for that (though, frankly, this is more readable). As a blazing political polemic, though, it's totally awesome.