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These sparkling essays catch a mature and prodigious talent in an uncommonly contemplative mood. James Barrett ranges across the field's core themes of class, race, and ethnicity (including an original take on the whole Thompsonian paradigm), then uses his own personal intellectual and political coming of age as an opening to new inquiries about work and individual identity. --Leon Fink, author of The Long Gilded Age: American Capitalism and the Lessons of a New World Order

Here's how to read James Barrett's marvellous new collection of essays. Begin with his opening call for American labour historians to pay more attention to the inner worlds of working people . . . so as to give their lives the complexity they deserve. Then flip to the final essay and make your way, one by one, back to the first, following Barrett's distinguished career as he closes in on the standard he has set for the field. -- Kevin Boyle * Social History * History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out is an exemplary life's work. -- Christopher Phelps * Labour History Review * History from the Bottom Up presents a lesson in reflexivity and the process of historical study. . . . This book should be read by all scholars who want to learn more about the process of historical thinking. It is accessible and thought-provoking, arguing persuasively for a closer examination of our own motivations in researching history, as well as a declaration in favour of making the political personal. -- Sophie Cooper * Immigrants and Minorities * James R. Barrett's History from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out defies categorization. It is not singularly a memoir, nor a historiographical examination, nor a book about new approaches to history; it is an amalgam of all three. . . . . Barrett in this book not only synthesizes samples of his previous work, but offers a manifesto of sorts to young scholars for how labor history could be made of flesh and blood. -- Robert Cassanello * American Historical Review *

I found this stirring collection of essays completely absorbing. James Barrett incisively weaves together the fabric of his own life experience with the trajectory of the new Labor History in which he played a central part. From his astute discussion of faith in the lives of working people to his persuasive explorations of working class culture and class, Barrett pushes us to consider the relevance of working class history to contemporary politics. -- Alice Kessler-Harris, author of Gendering Labor History These sparkling essays catch a mature and prodigious talent in an uncommonly contemplative mood. James Barrett ranges across the field's core themes of class, race, and ethnicity (including an original take on the whole Thompsonian paradigm), then uses his own personal intellectual and political coming of age as an opening to new inquiries about work and individual identity. -- Leon Fink, author of The Long Gilded Age: American Capitalism and the Lessons of a New World Order

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James R. Barrett is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author and editor of several books, most recently, The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multiethnic City. David Roediger is Foundation Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas and the author of Seizing Freedom: Slave Emancipation and Liberty for All.

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