Reviews
"Historian Woloch analyzes the fraught history of protective laws for women workers. She skillfully synthesizes many strands of the historiography of protective legislation while making an original contribution with close analyses of the people and particulars of key court cases and decisions that shaped the reformist and legislative landscape over a century. . . . Woloch deftly illustrates how post-1960, arguments for workplace equality based on 14th Amendment protections ultimately trumped those based on difference--but not without difficulty, as evidenced by debates over maternal health and leave policies." -- Choice, "How did women move from the border of belonging to the center of the struggle for equality? Many historians have tackled pieces of the story, but nobody has traced the history of single-sex protective legislation from its conception to its disintegration until now. Well-researched, elegantly composed, and persuasive, A Class by Herself is a sterling account of one of the great issues in American women's history." --Alice Kessler-Harris, Columbia University, Winner of the 2016 Philip Taft Labor History Award, Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations Honorable Mention for the 2015 David J. Langum, Sr. Prize for American Legal History/Biography, Langum Charitable Trust, Honorable Mention for the 2015 David J. Langum, Sr. Prize for American Legal History/Biography, Langum Charitable Trust, "Employing a wide array of scholarship, this book looks at single-sex protective labor laws, from their appearance in the late nineteenth century to their virtual disappearance at the end of the twentieth. Woloch is the right person to pull together the enormous literature on women's history and protective labor laws and to clarify where we are in this century-long debate. A much-needed book." --Cynthia Harrison, George Washington University, "A fascinating story of 'false hopes and unintended consequences.'" --Lara Vapnek, Reviews in American History, "A monumental contribution to the history of gendered labor law, Woloch's clear and authoritative guide to this complex topic provides a solid foundation for future scholars. Its commanding perspective offers effective summaries, astute interpretations, and thoughtful connections across a century of social, economic, and political change. This is a book of enduring value to historians, legal scholars, and everyone interested in fairness in the workplace." --Kathryn Kish Sklar, author of Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work, "Rarely are we fortunate enough to get such a careful and nuanced exploration of such an important subject. Woloch moves well beyond polemics to help us genuinely understand the complexities of issues that remain in a class by themselves in terms of their significance in American legal and political history. Woloch's chronological reach is especially impressive, ultimately helping us to understand the many different conceptions of 'progressive' politics that have enlivened modern America." --Robert D. Johnston, author of The Radical Middle Class, Winner of the 2016 Philip Taft Labor History Award, Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations Winner of the 2015 William G. Bowen Award, Industrial Relations Section of Princeton University Honorable Mention for the 2015 David J. Langum, Sr. Prize for American Legal History/Biography, Langum Charitable Trust, Winner of the 2016 Philip Taft Labor History Award, Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations, "A magisterial achievement. . . . Woloch provides the best analytical trajectory to the litany of contests central to women's legal history." --Eileen Boris, Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, "Woloch retells the history of protective legislation as a scholarly page-turner, complete with 'close calls and near misses, false hopes and unintended consequences'. . . . The resulting narrative leaves readers with a deeper appreciation for both the messiness of feminist polities and the power of history as a tool for helping us see the world fresh." --Amy Richter, Law and History Review, "Sophisticated and meticulously researched. . . . The first study to provide a comprehensive view of sex-specific labor laws over their more than century-long existence. Woloch's work will no doubt become indispensible to the history of gendered labor law." --Jan Doolitle Wilson, Journal of American History, " A Class by Herself is a masterful history of interest group politics that shaped government, business and labor relations, and gender politics throughout the twentieth century. Labor organizers, clubwomen, judges, pro-business attorneys, reformers and their lawyer allies, bureaucrats, feminists, and aggrieved workers all receive attention in this superb history of protective labor legislation." --Kathleen A. Laughlin, American Historical Review
