Reinventing Free Labor. Padrones And Immigrant Workers In The North American West 1880-1930

Cover Type: Softcover
Book Condition: Fine
Jacket Condition: None Issued
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publisher Place: Cambridge
Publisher Year: 2000
Edition: First Edition

Description: 293 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in Fine condition throughout.

Publishers Description: One of the most infamous villains in North America during the Progressive Era was the padrone, a mafia-like immigrant boss who allegedly enslaved his compatriots and kept them uncivilized, unmanly, and unfree. In this first-ever history of the padrone, Gunther Peck argues that they were not primitive men but rather thoroughly modern entrepreneurs who used corporations, the labor contract, and the right to quit to create far-flung coercive networks. Drawing on Greek, Spanish, and Italian language sources, Peck analyzes how immigrant workers emancipated themselves using the tools of padrone power to their own advantage.

ISBN: 9780521778190