If the Workers Took a Notion: The Right to Strike and American
Political Development. By Josiah Bartlett Lambert. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 2005. 259p. $49.94 cloth, $19.95 paper.
Josiah Lambert's book succeeds at several levels, asking us to
take seriously the rights and obligations once thought intrinsic to work
and citizenship, especially in the context of the ever-malleable right to
strike. One finds here a comprehensive history of organized labor in the
United States dependent upon, and effectively situated in, an analysis of
the crucial and fundamental right to strike—a right that has over
time substantially changed in meaning and usefulness as a weapon in the
struggle between capital and labor. This book is perfect for upper-level
students in labor or political history, but is far more satisfying than
such a recommendation suggests. While those new to this history will find
themselves fascinated by accounts of strikes and the often violent
reactions they engendered, more seasoned scholars will also be asked to
think through their understanding of civil society and labor activism in a
new and refreshing way. Well organized and tightly expressed, this volume
should receive a wide and appreciative audience.