Looking for Work, Searching for Workers: American Labor Markets During Industrialization. By Joshua L. Rosenbloom. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. xvi, 208. $20.00, paper

Joshua Rosenbloom provides a superb study of the operations of the U.S. labor market between the Civil War and World War I. The book weaves fascinating descriptions of the various ways in which employers and workers established connections together with clear summaries of an extensive amount of background quantitative work. Although the analysis is firmly grounded on a series of more technical statistical studies, most of the book does not emphasize econometrics. Instead, the findings are effectively summarized using graphs, simple means and telling anecdotes that illustrate the experiences of many workers. The book is beautifully written and can be used by economists, historians, and both graduate and undergraduate students to obtain a clearer understanding of how markets work.