The Way We Work: Contemporary Writings from the American Workplace - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826516084 ISBN 13: 9780826516084

Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press, 2008

Synopsis

The Way We Work reveals that a seismic change has occurred in the workplace since the appearance in 1974 of Studs Terkel's ""Working"". Terkel's subjects, despite their alienation, had a sense of themselves as workers and felt that in the workplace they were part of a community. By contrast, while some of the narrators in ""The Way We Work"" feel passionate about their work, others are barely conscious that they are 'workers.' In transit from one job to another, some workers find it hard to take either their co-workers or their job situation too much to heart. One pronoun rarely used by the narrators of the works in this anthology is 'we.'Each of the 43 pieces in ""The Way We Work"" represents a voice that is idiosyncratic, ironic, or humorous. Alongside such acclaimed writers as Tom Wolfe, Rick Bass, Barbara Garson, Ha Jin, Charles Bowden, Erica Funkhouser, Allan Gurganus, Catherine Anderson, Philip Levine, Edward Conlon, and Mona Simpson, appear the narratives of little-known writers. No other collection of writings about contemporary work in this country showcases the personal accounts of employees from a creative, literary perspective.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Scheckner, Professor of Literature at Ramapo College, is the author of Class, Politics, and the Individual: A Study of the Major Works of D.H. Lawrence and editor of a collection of English Chartist poetry. M. C. Boyes teaches at the University of Richmond.

Edition details

• Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826516084
• ISBN 13: 9780826516084
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312
• Editor: Scheckner Peter, Boyes M.C.