The Political Economy of the Living Wage: A Study of Four Cities. By Oren M. Levin-Waldman. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2004. $69.95 cloth, $24.95 paper.

Fighting for a Living Wage. By Stephanie Luce. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. 288p. $45.00 cloth, $18.95 paper.

While the idea of a living wage is traceable back to concerns about the status of wage earners in a republican political order voiced during the Jacksonian era, the modern history of the movement began in Baltimore in 1994. A coalition of unions, liberal religious groups, and organizations that work with and for the poor persuaded the city council to adopt a policy requiring all firms with city contracts to pay their employees a living wage. From there, the movement has spread to other parts of the country, resulting in about 130 similar ordinances at last count. These two books are the latest in a growing literature covering various facets of this phenomenon.