Full Citation
Title: Book Review: Unprotected Labor, Household Workers, Politics, and Middle-Class Reform in New York, 1870–1940. By Vanessa H. May. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 2011. Pp. xi, 246. $65.00, cloth; $26.95, paper.
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2013
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.1017/S0022050713000740
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Abstract: Andreas draws an interesting parallel between America’s industrial espionage and intellectual property theft in its early efforts to industrialize and modern-day concerns about Chinese piracy of ideas. He makes the point that, “Only after it had become a mature industrial power did the country vigorously campaign for intellectual property protection—conveniently overlooking its own illicit path to industrialization” (p. 98). The United States’ burgeoning strength also led the nation to a volte-face regarding rights of neutrals in the face of a blockade. Smuggling munitions and accoutrements of war helped succor the Continental army in the War of Independence and the Confederate army four score and seven years later. Great Britain and the United States essentially reversed positions on non-belligerents’ rights between the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. His chapter on smuggling alcoholic beverages to Indian tribes ends rather abruptly before the Civil War. The reader is left to wonder whether the remaining independent tribes received alcohol after the Civil War and what the effects were. Was alcohol a key factor in subduing the Plains tribes? The book does flag near the end, because the scenarios display recurring characteristics: attempts to suppress smuggling . . .
Url: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022050713000740/type/journal_article
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Eli, Shari J.
Periodical (Full): The Journal of Economic History
Issue: 3
Volume: 73
Pages: 888-890
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other
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